Sprint Orienteering with Interval Starts
A sprint-format orienteering race around the school grounds: a detailed map, closely spaced controls, and individual starts every 30 seconds. Students must read the map at speed, make quick decisions, and avoid getting pulled along by whoever started ahead of them.
How to play
- Before class, place 12 controls around campus, each with a clothespin or a different letter, and set up two 8-control courses (A and B) in a different order.
- Explain the three start boxes (3 min): at –2 minutes pick up the card, at –1 get the map face down, and at 0 go on the whistle.
- First heat (8 min): students start one at a time every 30 seconds, alternating A and B, and mark their card at each control.
- At the finish, record the time and add one minute per missing or wrong control. While waiting, finishers tell another runner where they hesitated (2 min).
- Second heat (8 min): everyone runs the other course, with the start order reversed.
- Wrap-up (4 min): compare times and the best routes between two specific controls.
Rules
- No following other runners; if you end up together, each person picks their own route.
- Areas marked out of bounds on the map (parking lot, gardens, buildings) may not be crossed.
- Safety: slow down at corners and doorways and look before you turn.
Variations
Easier
Use a 5-control course with starts every minute and the route to the first control drawn on the map.
Standard
Run two 8-control courses with starts every 30 seconds and penalties for wrong controls.
Harder
Run a 12-control course with traps, such as two similar controls close together, and hand out the map only as the runner crosses the start line.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: run a course on flat paths with the same controls and a personal target time.
- Autism or competition anxiety: run with a partner and untimed in the first heat.
- Lower fitness: reward accuracy and allow walking; the fastest runners add two controls.
Learning goals
- Read and orient the map while running at every change of direction.
- Choose fast routes independently under time pressure.
- Respect the fair-play rules of orienteering.
Equipment for a class of 25
- maps: 52
- control markers: 12
- clothespins: 12
- cards: 52
- stopwatch: 1
Teacher tip
Prepare the start list and numbered maps before class: interval starts only work if they run on time. Ask an injured or sitting-out student to run the stopwatch.
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