Nadim Ahmed is event director for the 2007 U.S. Individual Orienteering Championships and Sprint Championships, held Nov. 2-4 at Prince William Forest near Triangle, Va. Orienteering is an outdoor sport that tests participants’ navigational skills using a map and compass and physical skills on foot, bike, canoe or ski. The 2007 championships in Virginia drew 590 participants, from ages 6-81. Planning competition courses for participants of such a wide range of ages and skills/experience must take into consideration key factors to ensure the competitions are suited to all ages yet still challenging. Nadim offered these tips for planners of other events that draw participants of various ages and experience levels:

Establish a benchmark. U.S. Orienteering Federation guidelines match different age classes to seven different color courses, with white being the easiest and blue the hardest. White courses (2-3km) are recommended for children under 12 years old and are designed and tested for champion-level participants to finish in 25-30 minutes. Blue courses (8-14km) are open to men of all ages, with a tested 75- to 80-minute finish time. Our first priority is to establish the championship time and ensure fair competition from there.

Start at the bottom. We encourage first-time participants, including experienced runners, to run a white or yellow course. Running terrain is different from running a road race; for example, a good orienteerer can run a kilometer in 10 minutes, which is the equivalent to running a seven-minute mile.

Promote safety. We take precautions for areas where there is a question of safety. We might put ropes along a river, crossing guards at road crossings, declare certain areas out of bounds and keep track of how long each participant has been out. At the championships in November, we allowed parents to “shadow” their children (10 and younger) simply as a safety measure—they were not allowed to communicate with the children during the race.