Delaware Valley Orienteering Association will hold a National Orienteering Competition on campus on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017.
Competitors from around the country and Europe will race across Penn State Berks campus with maps and compasses as part of the Delaware Valley Orienteering Association’s National Orienteering Competition on Saturday, Nov. 4.
Participants will set off at intervals between 2 and 4.30 p.m. in the G5 parking lot off Handwerk Road. Visitors should enter the main campus entrance on Broadcasting Road and make the first left onto Harper Road, which becomes Handwerk Road and leads to the lot.
Beginners are encouraged to participate and should arrive between 10:30 a.m. and noon to register. Instruction will be provided at the event. The cost is $12 to participate and it includes a map, instruction, and the use of an electronic timing punch and a compass during the event. The course should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
The competition is a “sprint” event, which involves making many quick route-choice decisions. Participants will race between control points located throughout the campus. Each point is identified by orange and white control flags with an electronic timing box.
Orienteering is an outdoor navigation sport for people of all ages. Using a detailed map as the primary tool and a compass to stay orientated, participants select and follow their own route between specified points shown on the map. Competitors start individually at intervals, and are timed electronically on courses of various difficulty, from beginner to advanced. The sport is extremely popular in Scandinavia and Europe.
The Delaware Valley Orienteering Association (DVOA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967 and it is the oldest civilian orienteering club in the United States. In 1991, DVOA became the largest of the more than 70 clubs affiliated with the United States Orienteering Federation (USOF). DVOA currently has approximately 700 members. For more information, visit www.dvoa.org or contact Roger Hartley at 215-453-0639 or via email at [email protected].
