Orienteering is a challenging outdoor adventure sport that exercises both the mind and the body. The aim is to navigate in sequence between control points marked on a unique orienteering map and decide the best route to complete the course in the quickest time. It does not matter how young, old or fit you are, as you can run, walk or jog the course and progress at your own pace.

Orienteering takes place in forests, urban settings and parkland.  Events offer varying courses to suit all ages and abilities.

Several Permanent Orienteering courses are available around Poole such as Poole Park, Broadstone Rec., Upton Country Park, Hamworthy Park, Darbys Lane Park and maps are available to download from our web site http://www.wessex-oc.org.uk/        Click on Locations/ Permanent Orienteering Courses

Try out the future of Orienteering!

A more recent development is the Virtual Orienteering courses which are available in many of the local parks. This uses a mobile phone downloaded with the free app "Maprun 6" and the GPS system. Links on how to use this are on the Wessex Web site if you click on Events and Map Runs Map Runs / Map Runs.  Guidelines on how to use the facility are on this page together with a whole set of local courses to print out a paper map. You download the desired map  onto the MAPRUN 6 app which will check your accuracy as you run the course, most people prefer to also download and print  a paper map from our web site to avoid looking at a small Mobile phone screen whilst doing the run. Try this modern version of Orienteering which doesn't use physical controls. The phone will bleep and register your position if you pass within 15 m of a control point, split times and run times are then uploaded to a central server for you to compare your run time with other people's attempts. There is an easy safe trial course within Poole Park to see how it works.