Variations

Championship distances are: Long (winning time of 70 - 80 minutes for women and 90 - 100 mins for men), Middle (30-35 mins), Sprint (10-12 mins) and Relay.

Relay

Teams of competitors each run a course and the result is based on the team's total time. Relays usually employ a mass start instead of a staggered start. To reduce competitors following each other, parallel courses are used where runners on each leg of the race can have different course combinations. To ensure fairness, the total of all the course combinations is always the same for each team.

Score-O

Competitors visit as many controls as possible within a time limit. There is usually a mass start (rather than staggered), with a time limit. Controls may have different point values depending on difficulty and there is a point penalty for each minute late. The competitor with the highest point value is the winner.

ROGAINE

The large-scale, endurance-style version of a Score-O is known as a ROGAINE, competed by teams in events lasting (often) 24 hours. A very large area is used for competition, and the map scale is smaller. The format originated in Australia.

The term ROGAINE is often said to stand for Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance; this is essentially a backronym, as the name actually originates from the names of Rod Gail and Neil Phillips, who were among Australian Rogaining's first participants.

Sprint

Shorter events often in city parks and other more urban settings. Map scales usually 1:5,000 or 1:4,000.

Night

Competitors use a headlamp to navigate in the dark. Reflective control markers are often used.

Bike-O

Orienteering on mountain bike. As bikes are not permitted to leave the path system, the major focus becomes route choice while navigating at bike speed. Special equipment required is a map holder attached to the front of the bike. Map scale is often smaller than standard orienteering maps.

Ski-O

Orienteering on cross-country skis. Standard orienteering maps are used, but with special green overprinting of trails and tracks to indicate their navigability in snow; other symbols indicate whether any roads are snow-covered or clear. Standard cross-country ski equipment is used, along with a map holder attached to the chest.

Trail-O

An orienteering form accessible to disabled competitors where the object is accuracy, not time. It involves determining, along a set accessible course, which of various controls in a small area is the one indicated on the map. Another form involves determining the position on a map of a control viewed from a set point 30-40 metres away. Maps are usually 1:5,000 scale.