Three-hundred maps, 200 competitors, nine hours of running and one air horn will be the focus of the region’s landscape this weekend [13 and 14 March] when students from across the UK take to the countryside for a national orienteering competition. 

The British Universities and Colleges Sport [BUCS] orienteering championships 2010 event, hosted by the University of Bristol Orienteering Club [UBOC], will involve students from 20 universities competing against each other across the Mendips and Forest of Dean.

An outdoor sport, orienteering exercises both the body and the mind. The aim is to navigate in sequence between points marked on an orienteering map and decide the best route to complete the course in the quickest time.

Richard Cronin, University of Bristol Orienteering Club Captain, explains: “Orienteering is similar to a cross-country race where you don’t know where you going, until someone hands you a map and shouts ‘GO!’. Then it’s up to you to find your way around a number of controls [check-points] on the route marked on the map as fast as possible, no matter what stands in your way, trees, walls, fences or mountains….”

The event has been run with the support of the University of Bristol Students’ Union and Bristol Orienteering Klub [BOK] who have helped supply equipment and are providing volunteers.