Discussion: Analogy to Describe Orienteering

In a few days I'm going to send out a press package to media in the Orlando and Clermont FL area describing the upcoming Florida Orienteering Championships and the annual Bubba Goat race.
What is the best way to describe orienteering to writers/ reporters who probably do not know anything about competitive orienteering. The 1960's description 'car rally on foot' does not seem to work any more.
I'm thinking of this:
Going orienteering is like putting yourself in a non-violent video game. You are the action figure trying to get to a series of targets in as little time as possible and to move up to more advanced skill levels. Your eyes and your brain’s ability to interpret the map are the ‘joysticks’ that will control your movement through the game.
Does that work for you? Can you suggest something better?

There's a bunch of checkpoints in the woods. Person who finds them all fastest wins.

I don't think the video game analogy works. Either the video game doesn't involve a map, or if it does, it shows your location as a dot on the map in the corner of the screen such that it's a GPS.

If you do go with this analogy, I'd get rid of "non-violent". It should be implied that our sport is non-violent, and by using that term, a lot of gamers out there hear the word "lame".

I think Ben's description is simple and effective. If people ask me about geocaching, I usually say that orienteering is "old-school geocaching where you are your own GPS".

But to actually answer the question...as both a gamer and orienteer, I have to say that analogy makes me want to stop gaming AND orienteering. :)

Most journalists probably aren't gamers, and won't understand the analogy any better than they understood orienteering before. If you're trying to describe orienteering, why not just...describe orienteering? It's a checkpoint-race in the wilderness. Keep it simple.

The only game I've ever played with a direct parallel to O is...catching features. Trying to draw an analogy using adventure games or first-person shooters is only going to confuse people more.

I tend to describe it as a cross country race, only you don't know the course until you're given the map at the start. Whoever goes to all the checkpoints fastest, wins the race.

I agree with Juffy. Don't use an analogy; just describe the sport.

Say it's like rogaining but with less floppy hats.

I wear my floppy hat orienteering :)

Admittedly I usually describe rogaining as being 'like orienteering, but longer and more painful'.

I like tRicky's explanation but like acjospe I always start an explanation with: it's a cross-country running race with navigation.

Personally I don't like this analogy but from my personal experience it seems to resonate with regular folks most of the times is that orienteering is like treasure hunt. I have had situations in the past when I tried just to describe the sport as is and at the end my audience would ask me something like "so it's like treasure hunt?"

I like blegg's explanation, but with one clarification:
There's a bunch of checkpoints in the woods. You get a map that shows where they are. Person who finds them all fastest wins.

It's an off-trail cross country race, but instead of marking the course for you, they give you a map and you have to navigate it.

It depends on the audience but I generally go with something very similar to what acjospe said.

Not quite evelavtor pitches but the references in the IOF site may give some good ideas:

IOF About Orienteering http://orienteering.org/about-orienteering/

IOF Foot-O http://orienteering.org/foot-orienteering/

+1 to the acjospe description. Almost verbatim - it's like she's in my head.

Cunning Running. The old ones are the best.

I would recommend reading the first chapter of "Year of the Perfect Run: A Quest" by Bill Melville. I think he does a wonderful job of conveying the excitement we feel when orienteering [tRicky excepted ;-) ]. I particularly like the sentence -

"Orienteering is cross country running at its most chaotic".

I thinks its available as an eBook in the US.

@Juffy
That's so passe, we're all into Urban "Adventure" racing now ...

> GO NORTH
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike
> GO WEST
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike

@tRicky... Surely there are fewer floppy hats in orienteering, and less pedantry in rogaining?

The world would be a better place with less Toomses.

Dr Tom Kopp has a great analogy similar to the video game one but described orienteering like a giant board game. The forest is the playing board and you are the game piece. You control your every decision and every move.

@ Graeme. LOL. One of my first exposures to computer games, I remember seeing that line repeatedly whilst killing time on an HP 3000 mainframe back around 1980 or so.

@ Gordhun. Non-violent? What's orienteering without a little blood spilt in the forest? :-)

All those who witnessed Fletch's relay handover technique in the Flinders Ranges one year would have percieved it as 'violent'. The mode was a trip whilst at full tilt followed by out-of-control careering and cannoning through various elderly women towards my waiting out-stretched palm!

Thanks for the variety of answers. I guess what I most want to get across is that while orienteering is a serious race for some, at the same time and in the same event it is a recreational event for many.
That is no different from a marathon, 10K or any distance event where very few enter with a chance of winning. Some enter with a chance of a PB or an age-class prize but most enter for the social, fundraising or fitness aspect of it.
I guess what most attracts me to the gaming analogy is the aspect of working through levels.
So in telling the local press that the Florida Championships will have entries from Britain, Brazil and now Finland I also want to get across that the Smith family from up the road in Clermont is also welcome to come out for a few hours of exploring in the park.

+1 to Alex's description:

"a cross country race, only you don't know the course until you're given the map at the start. Whoever goes to all the checkpoints fastest, wins the race."

I sometimes add that starts are staggered, so you can't just follow.

I like to call it Orienteering "the original adventure race", and follow that up with saying it is much faster and shorter, and has far less lack of sleep-induced hallucination.

One I heard a long time ago is "like doing the crossword... while running to catch the bus" which has nothing to do with navigation so really misses the whole point, but I've always liked how it captures the mental+physical aspect

Gord, using the word joystick only advances your original post's analogy to the 1980s. :) I do like the idea of putting in the different skills levels, and that it's the individual's choice to advance when they feel ready. I've tried as well to describe the sport, but most were a little confused unless I could show a map, the key detail that made all of them go "Oh! Now I see!" because it's unlike any other map.

Since this will be written, not oral, how about:
"Orienteering is a sport combining cross-country running, map reading and terrain observation all at once. It can be raced competitively through increasingly difficult map lengths and terrains, or done recreationally for personal enjoyment. Championships allow them all to be together, from local newcomers to international athletes, discovering forests and parks in a fun setting."

Also, Juffy, that was hilarious - I remember playing those games. And I think I went through that particular set of feelings at the NAOCs (minus the broken compass).

Infocom had some pretty cool (non-video)games in the late 1980s; you had to draw the map in your head. (my favorite was Wishbringer)

If you really want to use the video game analogy.
Orienteering is like Catching Features, but for real.

Some of the above aren't analogies, just descriptions of the sport.

I just use: "Running in the woods." If more is then wanted, and sometimes that leads to further queries, things in the woods like rocks, cliffs etc must be found using the detailed map bit. But most will just go with the first bit, the rest is just obfuscation. What more is needed - this is our excuse to go play in the woods. What could be better.

I used a new analogy recently-- "it has the same problem solving aspects as rock climbing, but instead while on foot in the forest."

Wow! Orienteering is tough to describe! Maybe I'll just give the press a copy of the event preview

If you want an analogy, you could say it's just like that website, only less talking, more doing.

Niall has hit the Nail on the head, though I like walk's approach, as long as it was in a conversational setting

I turned off and fell asleep seven words into Niall's description. Was it any good?

Neil has hit the Niall on the head there.

You need to be able to put the idea "on the back of a business card."

I was really impressed once when I heard pi describe it something like this:

"Orienteering is a race, from the start line to the finish line."
[this makes the listener comfortable)

"There are a number of checkpoint along the way"
(still haven't said anything the user hasn't experienced before)

"What is unusual is that racers choose their own route between the checkpoints"
(blow their minds with the essence of the sport - but nothing particularly way out there).

So, three simple sentences that make the listener comfortable with the concept

Rogaining is THE Sport. Orienteering is, therefore, the short Sport. And before tRicky reminds me AGAIN what AP is supposed to be for, I would like to make the observation that AP has well and truly developed way beyond it's originally intended purpose and more power to it and all it's diverse devotees. :-)

Rogaining stopped being a sport when someone put a control inside the pub.

Orienteering is like orienteering, except there's no picnic, you don't need to estimate the diameter* of a tree, you read the map, don't pace count, wear the compass on your thumb, not around your neck, wear running shoes, not boots, run, don't walk, and yeah, it's a race.

*"My son is a Boy Scout in Troop *** *** , NY - he has to complete the orienteering component of First Class - Using a map and compass, complete an orienteering course that covers at least one mile and requires measuring the height and/or width of designated items (tree, tower, canyon, ditch, etc.)"

"Orienteering is a sport combining cross-country running, map reading and terrain observation all at once."

I like the distinction between "map reading" and "terrain reading". Maybe it's not really important for absolute beginners, but there is a common misconception that it's just one skill when in reality map->terrain and terrain->map are two totally different things and you need to master both of them. Sometimes it's quite frustrating to see people getting lost and then standing with their head buried in the map. I want to yell "Look at what's around you!" It's probably also a common coaching mistake to emphasize map-reading when they really mean the combination of map- and terrain-reading.

OK, this was probably way off topic, but I'm not the first one in this thread.

You're right, gordhun was the first one in this thread.

MrRogaine, there are too many apostrophes in your post. Please remove them both.

I have to admit, tRicky is right...

It's Ro'gai'ne' ?

Here in the UK, we have to start with "It's not that awful boring thing with bearings they made you do in the Scouts/Army"

Yeah, the apostrophe nazi is correct. Shouldn't you be off somewhere clocking up an enormous amount of kilometres?

The what?

Christmas Noel did a pretty good job of making orienteering fun with a Christmas tree map. I think orienteering managed to maintain a reputation as a serious sport in spite of his clever events.
The Tiger rogaine did a whole heap of good in getting regional WA on side with his bonus controls including the one at the pub.

@Gil, my experience has been exactly the same. I rather like the analogy though, as it makes it sound like a lot of fun!

@chenritzo - what I don't like about analogy with treasure hunt that it give an impression that orienteering is not something to take seriously. For example - if someone says I am marathon runner - others would consider marathon running serious business vs. if someone says I am orienteer and others think "treasure hunt, oh, fun loving guys but not serious guys".

I'm not a journalist, but I think we need to be advised by professional communicators.

I suspect they might point out that a large proportion of a readership will only read a couple of words and go no further. What's a phrase that will best encourage further reading? If the audience is the general public, I would say "treasure hunt".

Now of those who have survived, a large proportion might read the next sentence and go no further. What is the sentence that will best encourage further reading? If the audience is the general public, I would say something about "a clock and a few rules make it into a sport". Maybe mention "map" but in my mind the pirates always had a map.

Now of those who have survived we probably have to think more about audience and purpose. Are they families, teenagers who disagree with their parents on principle, young professionals, etc. Is this a "come and try it" call to action piece or is it a backgrounder designed to put the sport up amongst "serious sports". That will probably determine where we go next. No one right answer. Definitely no multi-purpose answer.

Say that it's the World Game and if you disagree, you are wrong. Seems to be a valid argument for why everyone should like soccer/football.

http://www.attackpoint.org/orienteering.jsp

why not using AP definition of orienteering.

I am not too big fan of Wikipedia's opening sentence that 'Orienteering is family sport' for the same reasons that I don't like orienteering association with 'treasure hunt' - it makes it sound like less serious sport. It does not mean that I absolutely reject notion that Orienteering is family friendly sport, but so is running, bowling, darts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orienteering

I almost like different type of association that amused me greatly last summer. It happened during ROC Tuesday Night Training run at one of local parks. There was regular runner on the same trails we were running on and she asked me "Are you, guys, hashers?". To which I replied - "We are worse... we don't drink at the end" (well not necessary true for all but that's the only response I mastered when caught off guard)

Anyway - if there is need to associate orienteering with fun term that is known to masses - why not associate with Harriers. Say something like - orienteering is like hashing but with map and controls.

Also we run alone, don't make heaps of noise, don't have a drinking event at the end, don't draw chalk marks on the ground...

@Gil - Wikipedia says 'Orienteering is a family OF sports', not a family sport. But I like the AP definition better too..

@smorse - my bad... thanks for correcting me!

Orienteering is just like the sport of Cross Country with the following exception: The course is not marked (i.e. no flagging, chalk, or officials to let you know where to run). So how do you get to the finish line one might ask? You are given a map and you are required to navigate to checkpoints out in the woods. If you miss a checkpoint it's like you were never at the start line. One other major difference is that the race is run individually, so that competetors can't follow each other. It's just you vs. the clock.

Running with a map.

"fast-paced adventure racing" or "map racing" has always worked for me. If the target looks clueless; "off-trail navigation race" is the obvious followup. If that fails, "following a map to find off-trail checkpoints while running", and similar awkward dialog that doesn't provide a soundbite may work. HTH and good luck.

Not an analogy but I like

"Orienteering - Grass...Speed...Ecstacy"

that somebody came up with a few years ago although in my case it is often "thicket...lack of speed...exhaustion".

Gord, event preview above is very good. Don't need to add much, if anything.