Orienteering Competition

The Orienteering Competition is a competition for Scouts in the Western Cape Region. Orienteering combines cross country with navigating between points using map reading and compass skills. There are various difficulty levels and the competition welcomes Scouts, Guides and Adults. It is normally held in and around Cape Town often with the assistance of the Peninsula Orienteering Club.

The history of the Orienteering Competition

In the early 1970s Colin Inglis who was then the Divisional Commissioner for the Western Cape was very worried about the standard of the Scouts' ability to use maps. As a long time member Mountain Club of South Africa, and later its President, he was acutely aware of the need to be able to navigate safely on a Scout hike.

On one of his overseas trips Colin picked up a handbook on a sport called "orienteering", and he asked Kevin Wall whether he thought this sport could be adapted to help improve the Scouts' map-reading ability. Kevin said he could see the potential and started formulating an orienteering programme.

Soon afterwards, Colin asked Kevin if he could put together an orienteering base for the 1973/1974 National Senior Scout Adventure in the Cedarberg. He agreed, and put together a team setting themselves up at Heuningvlei. From the Scouts' and adults' comments, the activity went very well.

To capitalise on the success of the base and the potential of orienteering, Kevin suggested to Colin that an "Area Orienteering Activity" be put on the calendar for 1974. The first such event was run at Silvermine on Saturday, 10 August 1974.

From the start these events were run with an emphasis on the participants practising their map-reading skills on commercially available maps. This practice was provided by setting the Scouts tasks which forced them to think, and to read the maps intelligently in order to make a series of short route-finding decisions. (In this respect Scout orienteering differed from the European-style sport orienteering, which emphasised the running and speed aspects, and also commonly used specially-drawn maps.) The objective was to get the Scouts to practice with "normal" maps.

Instructors were on hand to help the teams at the starting area, and also out in the field, to check how teams were doing.

The response in 1974, both in terms of participation and the training which was perceived it gave, was encouraging, and so orienteering became an annual event.

Girl Guides also participated and for example, in 1981, of the 66 teams in total participating in the afternoon training event, 16 were Girl Guide teams.

The orienteering was always held in daylight, invariably on a Saturday afternoon, as a training event and was referred to as the "Training Event". Later it was decided that there should be a competitive event, held after dark, to make it more challenging. Being competitive, there were no instructors around to provide a helping hand, and this became known as the "Advanced Event".

In 1981 Kevin managed to persuade "The Argus" to donate a trophy for the Advanced Event. The handsome trophy, in imbuia and yellowwood, was carved by Mr D. Kruger-Haye, whose outstanding work includes the carving of the Parliamentary mace.

For many years Silvermine was the venue, but with the assistance of the Peninsula Orienteering Club many more venues are available.

• 
  1981 Girl Guides in action
• 
  1981 Sea Scouts happy near water
• 
  1981 Welcome help
• 
  1981 The night Advanced Event
• 
  The new Argus Trophy being received by Kevin Wall
• 
  1981 Girl Guides in action

Please note the over time the format and criteria for 'winning' the competition has evolved and this is reflected below.

Orienteering Competition Winners

Year	Senior Winners	Junior Winners	Overall winners
2025	1st Durbanville	2nd Rondebosch	1st Durbanville
2024	1st Muizenberg	2nd Rondebosch	1st Muizenberg
2023	1st Muizenberg	2nd Rondebosch	1st Muizenberg
2022	2nd Fish Hoek	2nd Fish Hoek	2nd Fish Hoek
2021	2nd Fish Hoek	1st Bergvliet	1st Bergvliet
2020	No competition
2019	1st Bergvliet	6th Rondebosch
2018
2017	6th Rondebosch	6th Rondebosch
2016	2nd Fish Hoek	2nd Fish Hoek
2015		2nd Rondebosch
2014
2013	2nd Fish Hoek
2012	2nd Somerset West	2nd Kenridge
2011	1st Bothasig	2nd Fish Hoek
2010	1st Bothasig	1st Blouberg
2009	2nd Fish Hoek	2nd Fish Hoek
2008	2nd Fish Hoek	1st Bothasig
2007	2nd Fish Hoek	1st Bothasig
2006	2nd Fish Hoek	2nd Fish Hoek
2005	2nd Fish Hoek	1st Bothasig
2004	2nd Fish Hoek	1st Table View
2003	1st Durbanville	1st Rosebank
2002	1st Durbanville	3rd Pinelands
2001	1st Durbanville	1st Durbanville
2000	No competition
1999	1st Pinelands
1998	1st Pinelands
1997	1st Pinelands
1996	3rd Pinelands
1995	3rd Pinelands
1994	2nd Bergvliet
1993	2nd Somerset West
1992	2nd Kenridge
1991	4th Claremont
1990	2nd Bergvliet
1989	2nd Bergvliet
1988	2nd Somerset West
1987	3rd Claremont
1986	3rd Claremont
1985	2nd Somerset West
1984	1st Somerset West
1983	1st Somerset West
1982	No competition
1981	2nd Somerset West

See also

• Scouting Competitions