Not sure what you might need exactly to go orienteering? Here you can discover all the equipment necessary to get the most out of a race...
The most important items that you need for orienteering are a whistle, compass and a dibber. Suitable running clothes and shoes are another must. There are many other things that may be nice to have, like SYO Team kit, and a control descriptions holder, and this equipment will allow you to enjoy races more, and in some cases, even give you a competitive advantage. On this page, you can learn about all the technical items and clothing you may want/need to get the most out of orienteering!
Buying orienteering equipment
Everything you could need or want for orienteering will be available online from a variety of places, however a better option is to buy from traders at events. eg. Compasspoint, etc. Not only does this support small scale retailers and businesses, but you also get to feel equipment before buying, and physically try out whatever you're buying before purchase, to ensure that what you buy is exactly what you want, or that the running shoes you get properly fit you. Finally, when buying anything for orienteering, remember that you are able to access many discounts from a wide variety of online retailers, just by being a British Orienteering member! See the full list and how to redeem by following this link: BOF Member Discounts!
Technical O-gear
Compass:
There are 2 main types of compasses that you will see people using: baseplate compasses and thumb compasses.
Either will work fine for orienteering, however some people find that thumb compasses are easier to hold the map with and use to take bearings than baseplate compasses. Thumb compasses tend to be more expensive than baseplate compasses. LINK TO WHERE TO BUY
Whistle
A whistle is a cruicial piece of safety equipment that you should carry on you when running in terrain at all times. If you are ever in need of emergency assistance, a whistle is the best tool to alert people of where you are. On some events, particularly events with risk of adverse weather conditrions, or on exposed areas, whistles may be compulsary, and if you don't have a whistle on you, you will not be allowed to run.
Whistles are available from many places, but when buying a whistle, they should be a bright orange colour and easily able to fit in whatever clothing you would run in.
Here are a few recommendations: Whistle Whistle with Keyring
Dibber:
Your dibber is the tool you use to punch control boxes with on a course. You will be able to borrow dibbers if needed at most Wednesday night Club Nights, and most big events will have dibbers available to hire. However, it can be nice to have your own dibber with your personal SI number to save you the hassle and cost of hiring one every time.
There are multiple versions of SI dibber, and can all be purchaced from the SportIdent website. As long as it is an SI Card, or a SIAC, it will work at every orienteering event you go to. A SIAC dibber will register wirelessly at controls without you having to physically dib the box at events that are SIAC enabled, while with SI Cards, you will have to put the dibber in the box at every control. If you are running longer courses regularly with over 30 controls, you will want to check that the dibber you purchase supports over 30 punches in one race.
Control Description Holder
Control descriptions give you information about the physical feature on which the control kite is located. They are always printed on the map, but are not always visible or easy to read after you have folded your map. At most bigger events, "loose control descriptions" are provided - this is a strip of paper separate to the map, which only has the control descriptions printed on it. Loose control descriptions can be put in a transparent holder which is worn on your forearm. This is called a control description holder, and makes it easier to check your control descriptions while running. There are many different sizes and styles to fit different people and for different types of events, so these are the kind of things that are really good to buy from traders at events (see top of page).
O Shoes
There are many different types of O shoes. You will see lots of Orienteers wearing Inov-8's, however any decent running shoe will work fine. By buying a good quality shoe from a known brand, you ensure the best running experience, and that your shoe will last. There are various different types of shoe, all best suited for different terrain. It is recommended to start off with a good pair of off-road shoes, which will work for pretty much all forest/moorland terrain you will encounter. If you find yourself doing lots of sprint races in urban terrain, a pair of flat trainers for road use would benefit you too. You can even get running shoes with small metal spikes - called dobs on. Unless you find yourself running lots on bare rock/ice, these may not be the right shoes for you.
While there are many good places to buy online, a much better option is to pop down to your local running shop, or buy from a retailer/trader at an event. This means that you can properly try the shoes that you buy on and make sure that they fit you. Most shops will even have a treadmill, or allow you to go for a quick test-run outside. Again, don't forget your BOF Member Discounts when buying anything orienteering related online!
Other miscellaneous
These other items can be purchased from a variety of places, and include things like GPS Watches and Map Bags. Full list and purposes coming soon.
SYO Kit
Once you become a member of SYO, you can choose to get any of our club kit. A good one to start with is the Running Top, as you can wear it to run at all the events you go to - and you'll be representing the club, so it's really handy for things like the Yvette Baker & Peter Palmer junior competitions.
Below you can see the designs of the different types of kit we offer, and you can see it modelled by our juniors in our Photo Albums.
If you'd like to order kit, get in touch with
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Running Top
Sprint Vest
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Hoodie
Jacket