Confident Orienteering

Terrain Analysis: Complex Relief and Night Orienteering at Antalya O-Fest 2025. Event:  Antalya O-Fest, Night-O, Lara ( 10/29/2025). Turkey. Organising clubs Eon Tours  Extremely complex terrain with no clearly defined relief-based navigational lines. As a result, navigation relied heavily on numerous bearing sections. However, the terrain was filled with many similar-looking features — depressions and hill tops — making it very easy to confuse one with another. Night conditions added an extra level of challenge. The already difficult navigation was further complicated by a tricky course layout and the presence of many visible headlamps from other runners moving chaotically in all directions. To better highlight the complex terrain structure, I marked one of the index (thicker) contours in blue on the map. This makes the subtle relief forms more visible and helps better understand the challenge. Altogether, this made the competition a very technically demanding event. Ev...

Case Study #1: Last Navigational Line Perpendicular to Leg Line Example from the  Wispa O-Cup 2025 (Polan), D 35 course Organising clubs Harpagan Orienteering Club   This leg 7-8 presents a classic example where the final navigational line—represented by a road—is positioned perpendicular to the leg line. This setup increases the risk of losing positional confidence right before attacking the control. The course setter uses this configuration to challenge our route planning and force us to make strategic decisions to maintain reliability. The network of rides and roads in this area offers no bends or junctions that could serve as positioning points. On their own, these lines do not provide enough information to confirm our location. We can only determine our position with the help of other features located off these lines. However, these offline features are similar to each other (in the diagram, simplified depressions are shown), and under speed, fatigue, or pressure, it’s...

 New Release: Confident Orienteering Book 2: Planning Reliable Routes   by Aleksandr Alekseyonok A systematic guide to more confident navigation in orienteering We’re excited to announce the release of Book 2 in the Confident Orienteering series , a practical navigation guide designed to help orienteers plan more reliable and effective routes. Whether you're an intermediate athlete, an elite competitor, or a coach, this book offers a clear, structured approach to route planning — with the goal of reducing mistakes and improving performance. What’s inside: ✅ A complete methodology for dividing legs into linear and bearing sections ✅ Step-by-step guidance on evaluating route choices ✅ Detailed planning for control approaches ✅ Real-world examples and illustrations ✅ Tips for adapting your navigation under pressure Why it works: This book is built on the idea that better planning leads to fewer errors and greater confidence on the course.  Now available in Englis...

What makes a route reliable? These two routes illustrate differences in route planning. The green route can be classified as Reliable. The red route, I would say, is more of a gamble. Perhaps the athlete had a different plan, but it was poorly executed. However, if this was indeed the original plan, it already involved a high risk of error. Source: https://www.livelox.com/Viewer/Helg-utan-alg-etapp-1-lang/H21?classId=1068796&live=false&tab=player For more on Reliable Routes, see Confident Orienteering Book 2 First, the route come to a long narrow marsh with a clear point at it's edge. Then comes a large open marsh on the right and a clearing with a distinct boundary. After that, a bearing is taken with an aiming-off into the re-entrant to the right of the control. Aleksandr Alekseyonok, october 23, 2025. 

On-Table Exercises Series #1 (25.10.16) Today we have two fairly simple exercises: adding slope lines where they are needed. ( Slope lines are short marks that indicate the direction of the slope. ) You can either print these maps or complete the exercises on your computer or tablet. You can find the answers in this Google folder  Exercise maps : by Aleksandr Alekseyonok. The maps are taken from the Practical Guide “Confident Orienteering, Book 2: Planning Reliable Routes” , which will be released on October 22, 2025   (in just 5 days!) — don’t miss it. Book 1 in the series, “Fundamentals” , is available here. Aleksandr Alekseyonok, October 16, 2025

  The Most Important Part — Before the Book Is Out I know some people tend to skip the intro sections of a book — honestly, I sometimes do too. 🙂 But that’s usually where all the thank-yous go. So I’d like to share mine here, in advance, before Confident Orienteering  Book 2: Planning Reliable Routes comes out on October 22, 2025 . Huge thanks to everyone who helped bring this book to life. It’s been a true team effort — and it simply wouldn’t be the same without your support. Many of you were already part of the journey with Confident Orienteering  Book 1: Fundamentals , and I’m genuinely grateful that the team stayed together (and even grew!). Thank you for your work, your feedback, your ideas, and your patience — it means a lot. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The first book of the Confident Orienteering Practical Guide took a year and a half to finish; the second — almost two years. In some ways, Book 2 felt easier: the process was familiar, and I knew readers were wa...