Orienteering Victoria

Setting a Street-O Course

PreRequisites

The notes below assume that you have (or will have) a master map of the area on which the course will be run. If you plan to draw your own map, please refer to our information page on mapping.

Overview

There are six steps to creating a good street-orienteering course:

Control Placement; working out where to put your controls.
Plan your Course; how to determine course lengths and work out how many controls each course should do.
Check the Course; make sure things are where you think they are.
Provide Control Descriptions; how to describe the exact location of each control
Check the Map; use the checklist to make sure that nothing's been missed.
Print/copy the map; produce the required number of copies.

Control placement

A good course has two main ingredients:

Navigation to controls should involve competitors in deciding between route choices.
On exiting from a control there should be options available in the choosing of the next control to be visited .

The theory behind the placing of controls is illustrated in the diagram below and is based on three rings of controls around the start. The inner ring (i) is for the D and E competitors with each control approx 300- 400 m apart. This means that collecting 6-8 controls gives them a distance of 2-3 K’s.

The middle ring (m) is for the Power Walkers and B-C Course Competitors where the 6-7 controls need to be further apart. These Controls should use up the numbers 15-20 so that they are possible for the faster Power Walkers.

The outer ring (o) is for the A and B course competitors. These Controls are further apart to allow for the greater speed of the runners.

Other course setting alternatives. . .

Cluster course - controls grouped in clusters of 3-4.

A compulsory control; one control that has to be visited by most/all course

Two maps.(To utilise small areas you can have competitors taking a second map of a clothes line, using the same area twice)

Planning your Courses

Start Location

The start location has been chosen by your club prior to the start of the season, and is usually selected on the assumption that Public Conveniences will be available. Don’t forget to check this!

Determine Course Lengths

Course	Suggested Number of Controls	Eastern Series Course Lengths (km)	Western Series Course Lengths (km)
A	15-17	10	8+
B	12-14	8	6
C	10-12	6	4
D	6-10	4	2
E	6-10	3	-
Power Walkers	-	1 Hour	1 Hour

Note that course lengths may need to be adjusted if the terrain is steep/hilly.

Select Control Locations

3 to 4 weeks before your event...

In the comfort of your lounge room lay out the map and plan the shortest course (D or E) first. . . . as it is usually hardest to provide a challenge for this division. Ideally, this course should have a choice of 6-10 controls out of the 20 available. Next, add 2-3 controls further out for the next course up and then continue until all courses are set.

With armchair course setting you don’t need to have any specific control locations, just select your ideal courses and then go and find control sites. Reconciling the number of controls and the distances can be very difficult. So only use these control suggestions as a guide. Note, however, that having the A course collecting say 19 out of 20 controls reduces the challenge considerably in choosing which controls to omit. Similarly having the D course collecting 4 controls makes it hardly worth coming to the event.

Special notes:

All control plates should be on the ground, unless clearly indicated otherwise on the control description sheet.
Dead End Courts; use of short dead end courts can be a good move to 'hide' a control. However having a long line of runners following each other up a long court, to an obvious control, only to come all the way back the same way, is usually not a good control site choice.
Major Roads; to minimise risk, all D courses should avoid the crossing of major roads and train lines, because a significant number of competitors in this group are beginners
Fences; optimum route choice should not involve the climbing of any fences. It is poor course setting to put a control on one side of a fence that requires climbing. Not everyone can climb fences.

Allocating Control Numbers

When you have confirmed the control locations, you then have to decide what number will be assigned to each control. While this makes little difference for scatter courses, it is critical for score courses (such as the Power Walkers course). The numbers 16-20 should be reachable by a good power-walker.

DON'T number controls sequentially from one side of the map to the other! If you do this, everybody will go the same way - this limits route choice and makes the course less interesting.
DON’T place the higher numbered controls on the edge of your map!

Check the Course

2 -3 weeks before the event. . . . go out on the map, to locate features close to the sites you have already selected. Be careful because this is where mistakes are often made. Often after going out on the map, you arrive home and can't quite remember which side of the street or which corner the feature was on, so you guess. To prevent this, take detailed notes of the actual location e.g. pole outside house 13--swing support, S.W. side. Finally, make sure you put a dot on your master map, to signify the side of the street or the corner you have chosen.

If there are a number of similar parallel streets it pays to note the name of the street, as a check when controls are put out. (Use the Control Checklist in the StreetO Forms/Templates page).

Choosing Control Descriptions

Poor control descriptions handicap the lead runner into a control - as they have to stop and search - when they find the control, other runners behind them gain an advantage. This causes 'bunching up' and makes it very frustrating for the lead runner, whose lead is often lost because of poor control descriptions.

By having accurate control descriptions you ensure that the lead runner can maintain their advantage.

Use sensible, 'good' control descriptions....

Poor Control Description	Better Control Description
'Tree' or 'east tree', when there are numerous trees in the area. Unless a tree can be clearly identified, avoid putting controls on trees.	Tree outside No. 26.
Fence post, may not be clear	Fence Post, South end of fence
'Street sign', where there 3 signs within the circle area.	‘No Standing’ sign, outside milkbar.
‘Playground eqpt..’ and inside the control circle are a swing and a slide.	‘Swing S.E. strut’
Prunus Tree. This assumes botanical knowledge.	Tree at head of court

Check the Map

Print one copy of your map and check it against the checklist below (do this BEFORE you produce bulk copies of your map):

Item	Description	Checked?
1.	The control circle should be biased towards the side of the street, or the corner where the control is to be placed.
2.	A dot should be used to indicate the location of the actual control - especially on street corners.
3.	If the control circle obliterates significant features then it should be segmented.
4.	Scale. Make sure that your map has the scale shown.e.g. 1:10,000-a scale bar is not suffficient.
5.	Direction. Your map should have a North direction indicator.
6.	Times. For the score event component the finishing times should be on the map.
7.	Control numbers and descriptions. The number of controls to be visited by each grade, and control descriptions should be clearly shown.
8.	Phone Number. On the map the phone number of the Victorian Orienteering Association (9459 0853) should be provided.
9.	Be careful with the positioning of the control numbers next to control circles. This applies especially to the number ONE which sometimes causes confusion, as it has been be misinterpreted as a street.
10.	Rail Lines. Rail lines should not be a viable route choice option. If you have to set a course crossing a rail line, ensure that crossing places are indicated, by using the legend X at each crossing point. NOTE! It is a waste of time putting information on a master map before the event, because as most people are not familiar with the map the X on the master map will be meaningless, also those who arrive at 6.55 don’t even have time to read it!.
11.	Control descriptions on the back in large print, as well as on the front of the map is a popular innovation
12.	At the base of the map, print the address of the start location (e.g. Eden Park, Celestial Road). This way any competitor that gets lost can get help or ask directions to facilitate their return.
13.	In the Summer Series, it is recommended that the location of drinking fountains or taps be marked with a W.

Print/Copy the Map

One week before the event print and copy the required number of maps. (Ken Moore will advise on numbers) - Remember A4 size is preferred..

Only colour in the start triangle - use a highlighter pen, not a texta-colour (highlighter pens are transparent and do not obscure detail beneath them).

Do not colour control circles - doing so is risky....if you miss a circle, a runner may not see the non-coloured circle and select a poor route because of this.

This shouldn't be here....

TOILETS-- DO NOT ASSUME THAT THE TOILETS AT THE START LOCATION WILL BE OPEN ON THE NIGHT OF THE EVENT. It is up to each event organiser to ensure that the toilets at the start location will be open for of the event. Confirmation with the local council/club is recommended.