Orienteering’s ultimate tourists race around Birmingham in pursuit of medals

Birmingham, Alabama - Many athletes come to The World Games hoping to experience the unique atmosphere of a multi-sport event. Some even take time to tour the host city and learn more about its history, culture, sights, and cuisine. Few, however, get the opportunity to race around the locale itself in pursuit of medals.

Enter orienteering. A sport that challenges athletes physical and mental abilities through long and difficult race courses that even the athletes don’t know ahead of time.

It’s one of the few sports that allows spectators to see the action up close. Often taking place in parks or city centers, the sprint event gives members of the public a uniquely intimate glimpse into the world of international elite sport.

The public was given a chance to witness this unique showcase of mental gymnastics and physical exertion as part of The World Games 2022.

A curious few spectators gathered to watch the world’s most adept tourists battle it out across the natural and urban environment of Birmingham Southern College on Friday.

New Zealand’s Tim Robertson emerged victorious in the men’s sprint. He told Around The Rings, “we have a lot of really good sprint orienteering maps in New Zealand. It was always much easier for us to train for that when we were based back home.”

He added, “sprint has, kind of by default, always been my specialty when it comes to orienteering. In the forest, I’m still looking to make that next step, so this has been a focus for me over the last ten years.”

Friday’s course saw athletes navigate a mixture of urban features and manicured nature. They had to contend with environmental obstacles such as trees, bushes, and ditches, as well as more urban offerings such as stairs, roads, and buildings.

The course provided them with an enviable guided tour of Birmingham Southern College.

“It’s a little bit like our New Zealand campuses, but everything’s much more spread out,” remarked Robertson. “If you took this map, and shrunk it down, then you’d basically have the college campuses we have back home in New Zealand.”

While navigating a more urban environment might be more easily accomplished than trekking through traditional orienteering environments like dense forests and vast connected trial networks, Friday’s sprint offered a punch of its own.

“You just had to really push physically out there,” said Robertson in regards to the undulating course at Birmingham Southern College. “That’s nice to get a gold [medal] on a physical course like this. I’m really happy.”

The Kiwi tourist explained a solid combination of running prowess and map reading skills were needed to be successful in orienteering. He argued, “I think you really need both for all sprint races. No matter if it’s fast or technical.”

“Nowadays it’s getting more, and more important to be a fast runner. A lot of the top guys in the field can perform really well over 5k, 10k, 3k, so that’s becoming an important factor of our sport,” added Robertson.

He joked about no longer needing navigation programs like Google Maps due to his participation in orienteering.

“I always say to friends that the little blue dot that people navigate around with…[is] what we’re doing in our heads, so that comes quite in handy in everyday in life,” quipped Robertson.

He also spoke in favor of the sport, stating, “It would be cool if more people give it a go. I encourage people to get out there and try it.”

With the travel restrictions easing internationally, perhaps it’s time tourists add an extra dimension to their adventure. It’s worked out well for Robertson. He leaves Birmingham with a gold medal and intimate knowledge of some of the most attractive parts of the city.