Orienteering is a running sport involving navigation with a map and compass.

Traditional form (sometimes referred to as “Foot Orienteering” involves cross-country running, though other forms have evolved.

The course of control points is kept a secret from competitors before the start, when they are provided with a detailed topographic map on which the course is marked.

The competition is a timed race in which individual participants use a special purpose map and a magnetic compass to navigate through diverse terrain (often wooded) and visit, in sequence, control points that are indicated on the map.

The English name derives from the Swedish word “orienteering”. The term was first used to describe the sport in 1918 by Major Ernst Killander, then President of the Stockholm Amateur Athletic Association, in publicity for competitive meet held in Sweden.

Orienteering originated in Scandinavia, as a military exercise, in the late 19th century. The competitive sport form began in Norway where the first competition was sponsored by the Tjalve Sports Club on 31 October 1897 and held near Oslo.

World championships were held biannually from 1961 to 2003, and are now held every year.

Efforts begun in 1996 to promote the inclusion of orienteering in the Olympic games have so far been unsuccessful, although orienteering became a sport in the World Games in 2001, and is a sport in the Summer Deaf Olympics.