Confident Orienteering

CONFIDENT ORIENTEERING A Systematic Approach to Minimising Errors This is a clear and simple navigational approach. And that is exactly why it works. WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? Let’s look at how much work we actually do during the course. Here are the main tasks: — We plan the route. — We execute technical actions — taking bearings, reading the map. — We check control descriptions. — We constantly monitor where we are. — We choose our running line — around trees, bushes, rocks. — We think about the whole course as a whole and manage our energy. — We get distracted by competitors — both in our class and in others. — Sometimes it becomes direct head-to-head racing to the finish. — We get physically tired. — We get mentally tired. — And all of this happens under pressure to perform . THIS IS A LOT. THIS IS WHY SIMPLICITY MATTERS. In heavy load, complex systems fail. It is like in aviation. Complex electronic systems may work well in normal conditions. But in bad we...

  Route Choice Challenge #3 In   Route Choice Challenge  series I pick a leg, predict the most optimal route, and only then check it against the real athletes's tracks. Today I chose Leg 3 from Stage 7 of the Swedish League 2025. It was a long-distance race in the Women’s 20 Elite class. Right away, I would say that the fastest route is likely to stay as close as possible to the leg line, because the terrain is mostly runnable open forest, and there is no significant climb to justify a major detour. At first glance, this area in the middle of the leg, might look like something you want to avoid, but in reality, there is no substantial climb. Let’s take a closer look at the relief formation along this leg. I will mark the index contours in red. It is easy to see the relief formation. In general, it is a large downhill. But what about this formation in the middle of the leg? It consists of only two index contour lines, which represent the upper part of th...

    A new website for the  Confident Orienteering – Practical Guides  series I’m happy to share that we have launched a  new website dedicated to the Confident Orienteering book series . There is now quite a lot of information about the project, so I decided to create a place where everything can be gathered in one location — information about the books, translations, the overall project, and the people involved. The series consists of  three books . Two books have already been published, and  Book 3 is currently in progress . The books have also been  translated into several languages , and the number continues to grow. Another important reason for creating the website was feedback from readers. Until now there hasn’t really been a convenient place where readers could leave reviews. The platforms where the books are sold are not always ideal for this. I did receive some feedback by email, but it is difficult to make those comments publicly visib...

  MOM 2026, Leg 1 Analysis – Women’s Elite, Long Distance (Day 1) Let’s take a closer look at Leg 1 of the women’s elite course in the Long Distance race on Day 1 of the Maximus Orienteering Meeting 2026. At first glance, this is a long and visually intimidating leg. Right from the start, the course planner confronts us with complex relief and rocky terrain. Most likely, this leg was designed to make athletes hesitate. The immediate impression is that of a major climb, which may push competitors to look for “safer” route choices along the roads. In fact, some runners did exactly that, choosing longer but seemingly more comfortable options. However, if we analyse the leg more carefully, the picture changes. The direct option is clearly runnable. Despite the dense contour detail, there is actually very little climb. For most of the leg, we are moving downhill. The only real ascent is a short climb onto a large ridge — just 3–4 contour lines. After rounding it slightly, we remain...

 Following or Independent Racing? Share in the comments below how you feel when you catch up with a competitor who started before you — and then they follow you for the entire long distance, effectively relying on your navigation, even when you make a mistake. Based on the GPS tracking data, we can conclude that a similar situation occurred at MOM 2026 during the Long Distance race on Day 1. Pia Young Vik caught Eef Van Dongen before the first control, even though Eef had started three minutes earlier. From that point on, Eef appeared to run behind Pia for almost the entire race. Even during the five-minute mistake at Control 17, Eef followed Pia. Only near the very end of the course did she run independently.

  Today, we’ll go through the exercise from January 19, 2026. Task for January 19, 2026 Arrange the control points by elevation, from the lowest to the highest. Difficulty Level :  Hard  The task is to rank the control points by their elevation on the terrain, starting from the lowest one. To do this, as usual, we’ll highlight the index contours using different colors. The terrain here is extremely complex, with numerous depressions located on various elevation levels — a highly intricate relief structure. We’ll begin by marking a large, narrow depression, which we’ll show in light blue . Then we’ll highlight all other smaller depression of the same level.. The next elevation level will be marked in blue . And finally, we have the highest level — the top of the hill — which we’ll mark in red . Now the analysis becomes easier. We can clearly see that only one control point — Control 9 — is located below the lowest index contour, below the light blue contour...