26.11.2022 - Orienteering is a family sport – especially cross-generational too. Orienteering is a great holiday experience. That's why the Swiss O Week offers special short courses with free starting times. This makes it easier to keep track of all the dates and times for the whole family.
For children who already have some practice in map reading, there are special courses for the girls and boys under 10 years (D10/H10) at the Swiss O Week. These follow guidelines in the terrain, and the controls are clearly visible next to the path or the stream or... The children can choose the start time freely and therefore go to the start together with their parents or older siblings.
The Day Care is an important component of this programme. All children are well looked after and have time and space to play. For lovers of arts and crafts, different activities will be available. They may even make new friends during the SOW. If the parents choose courses with free start times, there is bound to be a peaceful farewell before they head off to the race. This reassures the children as much as mom and dad.
At the Kids-O-Week there are special offers for the youngest. They learn a lot about six different animals in a playful way. Who can answer the questions at the controls correctly? Or who prefers to run as fast as possible along the string and beat their own running time in the second round? And who wants to find the controls with a special map? There is plenty of time to discover everything!
And what if only one parent is orienteering? The Swiss O Week now also offers a beginners course for children in the age of 7 to 10 years. Older children and adults are welcome too. All interested parties sign up and are introduced during 1 hour at the stages 2 to 6 to the secrets of map reading with compass and badge. Together, everyone learns something new every day: the colours of the map, control locations and their symbols, route selection and also the correct use of the compass. The varied exercises and simple competitions bring safety to orienteering and more and more joy to this great sport for the whole family.
Christina Wehrli, head for Kids O Week
