People of all ages and abilities participate — from families with young children to seniors. Beginner instructions will be available at the New Year’s Day event.
Orienteering is in partnership with MetroParks of Butler County, where OCIN provides several events per year, including an “Egg Orienteering” course for young kids in spring, and a “Trail of Treats” around Halloween. Orienteering Cincinnati (OCIN) has around 40 events per year in different parks throughout the area.
The Journal-News spoke with Mike Minium, event director of Orienteering Cincinnati in a Q &A to find out more about this year’s events.
Question: Can you tell us about what we can expect from this year’s New Year’s Day event?
Mike Minium: Orienteering is the sport of land navigation, using only your map, your brain and your legs. It is an exciting outdoor adventure. We provide you with a very detailed map of Governor Bebb MetroPark, with a series of checkpoints marked on the map. Using only the map (and a compass if desired), your mission is to locate those checkpoints, record your visit with a small timing device that you carry, and return after visiting all of the points, or as many as you can find. There are courses of six different length and difficulty levels, so there is a short and easy one for beginners and families with young children, and progressively longer and harder ones for people looking to have a challenging off-trail adventure.
Q: What are you most looking forward to about this year’s event(s)?
A: As the course planner, I enjoy seeing how people choose to solve the navigational challenge of finding the control points on their course. I want to design courses that are interesting and challenging for participants at all levels — a course that is not too tough for beginners but still interesting and challenging for them; other courses for experienced orienteers that challenge them mentally and physically, another course for older orienteers who may have physical limitations but still want as great a navigational challenge as I can give them. For me, it’s the same type of feeling that a puzzle maker gets in designing a crossword or Sudoku that challenges the players without being impossible.
Q: Are there any changes this year, or anything new?
A: The courses are different each year, and the map has been newly updated to show some new trails and other changes in the park. At the beginning of COVID, we began requiring online pre-registration to reduce the need for direct contact and handling cash at check-in. We’ve relaxed that a bit and don’t turn away people who just show up; we always want to encourage beginners. We still keep our instructional sessions for beginners to small groups, and you can sign up for an instructional time online, or you can just show up and an expert can help you get started.
Q: What are the benefits of orienteering?
A: Orienteering is a very healthy physical and mental activity. You can run or walk at whatever pace you choose; you can choose a course length and difficulty suited to your abilities. Recent studies have shown that orienteering can have positive benefits for brain health and cognitive function.
Q: Why is this a good activity for all ages and skill levels?
A: It is a great opportunity to explore nature, to get outside and engage in healthy physical activity, but while completing a fun task. If you find it monotonous to just walk or run, this is a way to make it into an adventure.
Q: Can you give us an overview of the course?
A: There will be six different courses. The beginner course is less than a mile in length, all on trails, with simple decisions at each point of whether to go left, right, or straight. More advanced courses have points off of the trails, and participants get to visit parts of our area parks that few people rarely visit. Regardless of which course you’re on, you’ll be making decisions about how best to reach the next point.
Q: How many people participated last year?
A: We had about 90-95 participants on New Year’s Day, and 23 did the night course on New Year’s Eve.
Q: Why would you encourage people to come out and be a part of it?
A: It is a fun and challenging activity for both individuals and families. You can be as competitive (or not) as you want to be, and you get both a physical and mental challenge —orienteering has been compared to playing chess or solving a crossword puzzle, while trying to run (or walk) a marathon.
Q: Do you have any tips for beginners?
A: The best advice is to come and try it. Get some instruction from an experienced orienteer when you arrive at the park and start with the easiest level course. If you finish quickly or find it is too easy, move up just one difficulty level at a time, and go back out on a second course (no additional charge for doing additional courses). You can read some of the beginner information on the Orienteering Cincinnati and Orienteering USA websites, or watch YouTube videos, but there is no real substitute for just getting out and trying it for yourself. The one golden rule is that you must always check back in with the organizers when you finish. If you don’t check back in, we will be out in the woods until we find you.
Q: The event has become an annual tradition. Why did you want to do it on New Year’s?
A: We do orienteering year-round in various parks, and we had heard of a couple groups that did events on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, so we decided to try it. It is active and fun, a family activity in the natural environment that does not involve alcohol, loud parties, and crowds.
Q: How can readers find out more information?
A: More information is available at ocin.org/events.php. Participants may start the New Year’s Day courses any time between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Email Mike Minium at mikeminium@gmail.com with questions. Events are conducted rain, shine or snow.
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