Education > Course Setter Procedures

White Course

2 to 3 km (length plus 10 times climb) Winning time 25-30 min.

The White course should be designed for people who may have no orienteering experience and have had only standard beginner instruction before setting out. Never make a White course too difficult. The purpose should be to achieve a level of comfort with map to terrain identification while navigating along linear features.

A White course must be set in a section of the map which has an appropriate sequence of linear features, where the mapping is absolutely accurate and where, preferably, there is an interesting variety of topographic features. An ideal example would be a small lake, which can be circumnavigated without fear of losing one's way and with the expectation of a good trail system and interesting features. Usually the area of the map having the most trails is best for White course location. White course orienteers should not need to get their feet wet crossing water features.

• An Easy Start. Make the first two or three points particularly easy. This allows the competitor to get familiar with the map and encourages those that are tentative. The first control should be as simple as possible -- in fact, it can be visible from the starting point.
• Linear Features. Keep every leg along well marked trails or a similar linear feature such as a road, stone wall, field edge, stream or the like. Place controls at points where the linear feature changes.
• Short Legs. Generally the legs should be kept fairly short. It is better to have six to eight short legs than three or four long ones. On the other hand, don't use twenty legs each 100 meters long.
• Each control point should be on 2 map features. Trail at the top of the hill, stream junction, corner of field. Large or very distinct features are preferable as they encourage map to terrain identification. Do not use contour features as control points unless there is no alternative. Rarely will a control be suitable for both the White course and any other course.
• Avoidance of vague and dense areas. As with any course, the features you choose for control sites must be distinct; even large features can be vague, as for example the top of a large flat-topped hill. Pick precise spots, and place the control where it has good visibility.
• Very simple route choices. It is not necessary to have a route choice on a White course, but it is preferable, especially toward the end of the course. The options should be rather simple, which trail to follow, along the stream or along the fence line, etc. Remember, people on the White course may take routes that you would never dream of, so don't encourage any off-handrail route choices. Do try to come up with variety, following streams is an excellent alternative to trail, trail, trail.
• Suitable Terrain. Generally, the terrain you use for a White course should be "friendly," with lots of good handrails, no excessively rugged features, and above all safe. No walking along cliff tops or slippery rocks near the river, etc.
• No Real Need for a Compass. Avoid navigational problems that require the use of a compass. A White course should encourage map to terrain identification and discourage use of the compass with the exception of using it to orient the map.
• Within the constraints of safety, both navigational and physical, all effort should be made to add interest and the opportunity to identify a variety of features on the map. Use distinctive features such as large boulders, cliffs, stream junctions and the like. Locate the control at such a feature, but be sure it (the feature or even the control) can be seen from the linear feature route choice. Make sure that there are no similar features nearby to confuse the runner.
• Be sure to check the other courses to ensure that there are no nearby controls from them to confuse the White course runners. It is better than they cannot see controls from other courses that might pull them off course or cause them to mispunch.
• If necessary, a leg can be run through the woods guided by streamers, but note this on the control description sheet. Have a control at the beginning and end of the streamered route.
• Almost without exception, the ideal location for the White course constrains the Start area for all courses.

Yellow Course

3 to 5 kilometers (length plus 10 times climb) Winning time 35-40 min.

The Yellow course is designed for confident teen and adult beginners and for experienced youngsters. It offers experience with the application of orienteering techniques, and the course designer should make an effort to involve as many fundamental skills as possible -- compass, map reading, pacing, route choice:

• Follow Linear Features. Just as with White, it is critical that the Yellow course be set in an area having well-mapped, clear features. The basic difference from White to Yellow is Yellow takes the runner from the trail into the woods. Both White and Yellow follow linear features, but while the White route remains on the linear features, the Yellow route leaves and returns to them while visiting control points. The linear features used for Yellow course handrails can have small gaps or be less obvious than needed for the White course. Yellow can also offer a faster off-trail route, as long as it's in a relatively confined area with nearby linear features.
• Easy Course. Yellow should still be an easy course. Confine the technical difficulty for Yellow to a rather narrow range, offering a wide variety of features to navigate by and the need to begin to use the compass to find the control point. Attack points for a Yellow course should be a feature suitable for White. Choose control sites that encourage Yellow course orienteers to return to linear features for route choices.
• Route Choices. More than one route choice from control to control is important. You want to start testing navigational skills, and begin to introduce the need for contour reading, just being able to distinguish uphill and downhill is enough. Emphasize the need for following the map, but throw in a little compass work such as shortcuts through open woods, but only if the distance is relatively short, and provided that a catching feature exists.
• Variety of lengths of legs. Vary the lengths of the legs, but tend toward keeping them short. Legs should be longer than White but short enough that competitors don't lose concentration.
• Distinct features for control points. Use rather obvious features, such as top of a small hill, North side of pond, ditch junction. Avoid using reentrants or other contour features for control points. All control features must have nearby attack points on handrails and catching features.
• Control placement. Control flags may not be visible from the linear feature used for the main handrail. However, control flags should be hung higher than for more advanced courses and visible once in the immediate control point area. Do not place control punches too high for younger orienteers to easily reach.
• Catching Features. There should be an obvious catching feature shortly after the control when approached from the attack point. Controls may be located on the catching feature.
• Avoidance of Dense Areas. Never make the best route on Yellow go through dense vegetation, even if it is medium dense. Remember you want to encourage map to terrain ID, not compass use.
• Minimal use of Compass. A leg where use of a compass will result in a faster route is appropriate; however, the main use for a compass on the Yellow course should be to get from attack point to control. It is preferable to always have a reasonable route choice that minimizes compass use.
• Minimal Shared Controls. The practice of sharing a leg or control with White or Orange should be avoided, only rarely will a control appropriate for Yellow be appropriate for another course. Because each of the three lower courses have a discrete range of technical difficulty, overlaps invariably cause compromise quality.

Orange Course

4.5 to 7 Kilometers (length plus 10 times climb) Winning time 50-55 min.

• Moderate but not extremely difficult navigation. The controls and best routes should invite the intermediate orienteer away from the strong linear features that the beginners must rely on. However, the penalty for navigational errors should not be extreme. An Orange control may be placed in an area of intricate small features, but only if there is at least one good attack point near by (preferably several) to help the competitors find it, and also a linear or catching feature nearby to which they can "bail out" if they become confused. Every Orange course control must have at least one obvious attack point and one obvious catching feature. If unsure, err on the side of too easy. Yellow to Orange is a big step.
• Lots of Route Choice. Set a course that forces the orienteer to make decisions constantly. Make sure that the competitor must continue to pay attention and think in order to execute his choice properly. Handrails should be infrequent and can be subtle, for example a long reentrant. Force as much map to terrain identification as possible, with the orienteer picking off point features as he proceeds along his chosen route. Following linear features can and should be part of the route choice, but offer a faster off-handrail route whenever possible. Simplified contour reading should be encouraged.
• Variety. For variety, easy legs near Yellow in difficulty should be mixed with challenging legs near Red. In addition, a mix of short and longer legs is desirable. It is important that the whole course contains as much variety as feasible. This variety should also cover control features, direction, route choice and navigational problems.
• Control Features. The control feature should be fairly prominent, larger point and contour features. Use the main reentrant, not the small side reentrant. The hill top, not the small cliff face on it's side. Emphasize getting there, not fine navigation.
• Compass and Pace Count. Legs requiring the use of compass and pace count should be limited to positional control legs and small stretches between attack points and control features. Avoid allowing long compass marches. The best routes should be those that require navigation via picking off features along the way and navigation along large contour and land features.
• Difficult Controls. Avoid using difficult-to-find point features as controls. While some legs can be almost upper level in navigation, always use large obvious control features more appropriate to Orange level at the end of the almost-advanced leg. Control flags should be hung waist high and easily visible when at the control feature.

Silver, Brown, Green, Red and Blue Courses

Silver -- 2-3 km (length plus 10 times climb) winning time 40-45 min
Brown -- 3-5 km (length plus 10 times climb) Winning time 45-50 min
Green -- 4.5-7 km (length plus 10 times climb) Winning time 50-55 min
Red -- 6-10 km (length plus 10 times climb) Winning time 60-65 min
Blue -- 8-14 km (length plus 10 times climb) Winning time 75-80 min

The advanced courses should be set so that the very experienced orienteer is well challenged. However, the element of luck should be avoided. You cannot make an advanced course too difficult navigationally, but you can make it too miserable. Avoid misery and challenge navigational skill instead. Use the intricate areas of the map as much as possible. The Silver, Brown, Green, Red and Blue courses all should be of the same technical level, the shorter courses are never easier than the longer ones. Special consideration due to age and physical limitations should be made for Silver, Brown, and Green.

• Start. Choose the Start for Brown, Green, Red and Blue courses with regard to proximity to a good White/Yellow course area with lots of trails and linear features.
• Course Length. Keep your course length reasonable, adjusting for especially hilly terrain, weather and thick vegetation. Never set a course to defeat a given orienteer, set all courses by the appropriate standards and challenge their navigation, not their physical limits.
• Control Feature Size. If you put the control on too large a feature, it is usually very easy to find; therefore, the competitor does not need to use precision techniques. Too big a feature might be the top of a large hill, the edge of a large clearing, a point along a trail or stream (if there are any confusing trails or streams, this could be okay), etc. In fact, having a control within 50-75 meters of a big feature is probably too easy as well. Use small features -- boulders, cliffs, small reentrants, spurs and knolls, small marshes, depressions, etc. Make the orienteer navigate all the way to the control feature. If he is coming from the South, for example, place the control on the North side of the knoll or boulder.
• Control proximity to attack points or collecting features. Placing a control soon after a collecting feature, for example, 100 meters after a road, will usually make it too easy to find even if the feature is small. Furthermore, the competitor will probably be able to run to the road without thinking, making the leg too easy. Instead, place the control some 200 meters before the road. That way the less skilled orienteer will have to cover the extra 400 meters if he must use the road to find his bearings. Collecting features are long features lying across the competitor's direction of travel, such as roads, large trails, streams, ridges, clearings, large marshes, etc. Make the competitor travel further in order to take advantage of attack points and collecting features. Don't make the direct route the easier route.
• Lost Kilometers. Don't design a course with legs or leg segments that require little or no thinking, merely physical effort. If a control is on top of a large hill, the leg becomes a hill-climb event instead of an orienteering event. If the control is placed right after a big collecting feature, the competitor can turn off his mind until he reaches the feature. If the best route is along a trail for several hundred meters, again the leg becomes a racing event requiring little or no thinking. Use short legs and positional controls to move the orienteer into more technical terrain or move the control site further away from larger and linear features.
• Handrails. Try to avoid having the routes parallel to obvious linear features such as roads, trails, streams, fences or power lines. Keep such features more nearly perpendicular to your route unless the linear feature network is complex so that a parallel route will not simplify the leg significantly.
• Attack Points and Catching Features. Advanced courses should not have controls placed too close to attack points or catching features. Make sure any attack points the orienteer with most likely use are either a good distance away or small or subtle. Require constant concentration.
• Climb. Climb along the optimal route should never exceed 4% of the course distance.
• Long Legs. Longer legs that avoid obvious handrails and test navigational skill and are lot of fun for the advanced orienteer. It's preferable to include at least one of these in every advanced course.
• Route Choices. Maximize route choices and use of navigation skills while minimizing the luck element and the lost kilometers. The navigationally most difficult route should be faster than the "easy way around." The most physical route should never be the fastest. Offering multiple route choices that are hard to decide between is ideal. Avoid choices that go thru poorly mapped areas.
• Variety. A good course offers variety in both controls and routes. The larger the number and the greater variety of navigational skills required to complete the course, the less luck involved, the more fun and challenge there is and the happier the orienteer. Physical stamina should be rewarded, but not required.
• Silver, Brown, and Green Courses. Some orienteers on these courses may have some vision problems and only limited stamina and strength. Overly physical areas should be avoided on Silver, Brown, and Green. Maximize their test of orienteering skills, shifting as much as you can from physical to mental effort. Younger orienteers on Silver, Brown, and Green will benefit more from the mental testing of their navigational skills as well.
• Long-O. When setting Long courses, including Rogaines and Goats, the emphasis should be on long legs with lots of good route choices. Legs of one to two kilometers are appropriate if they can avoid lost kilometers problems.