Auckland Secondary Schools Relays

Hosted by Auckland Orienteering Club

An orienteering relay is similar to a traditional running relay, in that you are organised into teams of three, and run one after another. Each runner is given a slightly different variation of the map, with several controls placed close together at certain points on the map. This means you need to pay even more careful attention to control numbers than usual. Runners usually complete a course one grade lower than that otherwise relevant to their age grade, allowing schools to create full teams by including less experienced orienteers.

There is a mass start, which is a very different orienteering experience for many, but the runners soon space out. Nonetheless, in most cases, the first of the final leg runners to punch the finish is the winner, making for some extra exciting sprint finishes when the competition is close. Both because of this and the event centre run through when runners pass the baton (in this case the map), relays make for much better spectator engagement than the traditional long events.