Folks:

I just wanted to share my fun experience at an orienteering meet I
attended on Sunday with my kids. I thought that there might be an
overlap of interests between letterboxers who like to run around in
the woods with compasses, so I figured I would do my little part to
raise awareness. I'm lucky in that the Washington DC area is home to
some of the most active orienteering clubs in the country, so
there's a meet or two going on almost every weekend! I'm also lucky
in that one of the gals in my running club is also an "avid" (cough
cough) orienteerer. Avid indeed--in her glory days she was 5-time
U.S. national women's champion and had a spot on the national team
for something like 14 years in a row.

The sport is a little like chess or checkers, in that there are only
a few simple rules, but you can compete at MANY different levels of
skill and difficulty. Most orienteering meets will have several
courses laid out of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty. The
easiest courses are usually 1-1.5 miles in length, with all the
checkpoints laid out on clearly marked trails. The hardest courses
may be 3-5 miles, with the control points placed in the middle of
indistinct briar patches. Beginners, families, and just plain slow
and methodical folks can hike the courses, but the competitive folks
run them for time. The rough location of each checkpoint is marked
on really neat maps; if you like cool maps and want to know all the
hidden ins and outs of the parks you've been hiking for years,
it's "worth the price of admission" just to get one. It's also fun
to watch the advanced orienteerers running breakneck through the
underbrush with their eyes on the prize. Kinda like that "my husband
was raised by wolves" car commercial.

If you're interested, you can learn more and find clubs in your area
at www.us.orienteering.org. If you're in MD/DC/VA area and would
like to meet up at a meet this spring, drop me an e-mail at
drlith@hotmail.com. I don't know what I'm doing, either, but I know
it's sometimes easier to try something new if you know at least one
soul who will be there!

La Chola