Bridgedale Socks and Orienteering
One form of cross-country event that is especially unforgiving on the feet, if you wear the incorrect gear, is on-foot orienteering, this is a sport that cries out for Bridgedale socks. While orienteering is any event that uses navigation skills as a necessary part of completing the course, unlike some forms of orienteering that use vehicles or aids like skis, on-foot means just that, and because these events are timed, it normally means travelling as fast and as accurately as you can. Wearing Bridgedale socks can reduce the likelihood of developing blisters or sores that will slow you down.
Orienteering began in Sweden as a means of training their military in the art of cross-country navigation using only a compass and map. The civilian events are now immensely popular all over the world. Aside from protective equipment like goggles and proper clothing, especially footwear, the competitors have nothing but a compass and a topographical map, on which the course will be marked in red or purple. The map will also be marked with a triangle to indicate the start point, circles that show the control points, through which the competitors must pass and a double circle defining the finish line.
The rules of the events are quite straight forward; the competitor receives a control card containing a time stamp, which also has to be marked at each control point to prove that the competitor has completed the course correctly. These control points have orange and white flags and the competitor will also be given a clue sheet that describes the physical location of the control point. At the finishing line, the competitor must hand in the control card, where it will receive another time stamp. The time elapsed between the start and finish points can then be calculated. The person with the quickest time is winner. Many of these events are divided into age groups and so each group will have a different winner.
To check that nobody is missing on the course, a method called the stub was used. This is where the competitor will hand in a stub when they receive their control card. Stubs and control cards are compared at the end of the event and any disparity between the amount of stubs and control cards means that a competitor has failed to report at the finish. Nowadays electronic checks can easily match a starter to a non-finisher. Because of the dangers of injury on the course, a twisted ankle or broken leg, for example, any competitor who starts the race must report to the finish line control. They must do this even if they choose not to finish the event. This means that fruitless searches will not be sent out for people who simply pulled out of the event.