Types of Orienteering Events

Metro Orienteering | Bush Orienteering | NavDash Sprint Orienteering | Mountain Bike Orienteering | Beyond WA

Metro Orienteering

The MetrO Series is held in and around metropolitan parks and reserves throughout the suburbs of Perth. Events are held mostly on Saturday evenings between November and February, when it is too hot for running in the bush by day. Various courses are available, ranging from 3-8 km in length. These family and runner-friendly events are easily achievable by anyone who can read a street map and usually have a mass start. These events attract many regular participants, both members and non-members, and there is a briefing for newcomers before each event. There are prizes for the course winners each week, and sponsors' draw prizes. Series winners in various classes are determined by points accumulated over the runner's best seven races.

Bush Orienteering

The Winter Series of bush orienteering events is the core of the main orienteering season, and consists of events held mostly on Sundays in various bush and farmland locations. Courses of different lengths and navigational difficulty are available for all levels of experience and fitness, and there is plenty of friendly help available at registration for newcomers. Whether you want to walk on bush tracks on an easy course with your family, or pit yourself against some of WA's top endurance athletes in a challenging 12km cross-country navigation race, the opportunity to enjoy WA's great outdoors is well worth the travelling time. Bring a picnic and make it a family day out.

NavDash Sprint Orienteering

NavDash Sprint events are a series of short distance orienteering events, involving compact, fun courses (3-4km) on highly detailed maps, often on university and school campuses or in areas of bush close to Perth. The series runs from April to August, running alongside the winter series. These events have become extremely popular in recent years, both with regular orienteers looking for a fun, challenging race, and for those keen to try a new sport. A beginners' briefing is held at each event, and there is plenty of guidance available for those starting out.

Mountain Bike Orienteering

As the name suggests, Mountain Bike Orienteering (MTBO) is orienteering, on a mountain bike! The Mountain Bike Orienteering Series will let you enjoy mountain bike riding and orienteering all on the same day.

An exciting variation of the sport, MTBO navigation is track-based and easy to learn, and events are held throughout winter in WA. All you need to try it is a suitable bike and a sense of adventure. Courses are available for all levels of fitness, navigational experience and technical bike handling skills. Enjoy a short course on gravel roads with your kids, or head into the more technical riding areas and see how you compare to WA's best. There are friendly volunteers at each event to get you started, and the best way to find out more is to come along and give it a go.

Orienteering Beyond WA

A great thing about orienteering is that wherever you end up in the world, there is bound to be a local club organising events, an excellent way to meet up with another branch of the friendly global orienteering community and see some fantastic countryside that would otherwise go unnoticed. Every state of Australia has a network of local clubs organising local, regional and national events.

National events are held in a different state each year. All National events are listed in the Eventor Calendar. Around the world events range from casual local races to multi-day festivals catering for tens of thousands of participants. At all of these you will find people of all ages and abilities enjoying themselves.