Orienteers find way in the great outdoors

He is the apt adventurer you’d want by your side if a plane crash leaves you lost in the bush.

With only a compass, a terrain map and a pair of reliable spiked running shoes, John Williams, 16, is a nationally ranked teen navigator who can find a bubble gum wrapper in an evergreen forest.

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Joey Ivansco/jivansco@ajc.com

Parkview High junior John Williams dashes through the woods. Williams is nationally ranked in orienteering and has competed internationally.

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He’s sprinted across rough backwoods in Norway, Sweden and the United States in races that challenge extreme hikers to pick the fastest route to a finish line without missing checkpoints or getting lost.

“Orienteering is a lot more mental than most other sports,” said Williams, a junior at Parkview High in Lilburn. “You have to read a detailed map to find out where you are and how to get where you want to go as fast as possible.”

Orienteering, little-known to civilians, is a military sport gone mainstream. It began as a military training exercise in Sweden in the late 1800s and soon evolved into a competition combining speed, coordination and a sense of direction.

The sport is growing in popularity nationally — offering a rigorous workout. Plus it has brain-teasers and scenery so picturesque that some competitors carry cameras. Courses wind through forests, wetlands, mountains and deserts. Orienteers can run, walk, or use mountain bikes, ski gear or wheelchairs depending on the course or competition.

“It’s something you can do with your family or do as an individual sport,” said Robert Paddock, competition vice president for the U.S. Orienteering Federation, which represents thousands of orienteers nationwide. “It costs less than $10 to participate. You don’t need a lot of equipment or special clothes. You can participate at any level. I know people who are doing it into their mid-80s. At the same time, it can be very intense and very competitive.”

Orienteering at the high school level is catching on, said Paddock, as more JROTC programs in the Southeast and elsewhere introduce the sport to teens who crave adventure. Orienteering clubs can be found in some metro Atlanta high schools, including a few in Cobb, Henry and Gwinnett counties.

At Parkview High, Williams, a cadet with the Marine Corps JROTC, is an orienteering club captain. Last year, he won first place in the U.S. Orienteering Championships in Wyoming and the title National Inter-Scholastic Orienteering Champion on the junior varsity level during a Texas tournament.

Williams leads a team of 13 orienteers at Parkview. A handful of them are unaffiliated with JROTC and joined because they love the outdoors. Some harbor dreams of scoring a reality TV jackpot someday for their survival skills.

“I got into orienteering because I used to run in the woods when I was bored,” said Michael Howard, 15. “It’s a lot more fun to run when you are in a competition and have a map. … I could try out for ‘Survivor,’ ‘The Amazing Race’ … .”

Twins Rebecca and Erica Shane, 16, and their older sister Stephanie, 17, became orienteers because they have been hiking in the woods since age 6. “It’s mostly a guy sport,” Rebecca Shane said. “But we get a chance to go out and beat the guys sometimes. That can be fun.”

During practices, Williams gives his teammates tips on avoiding injury when falling downhill and keeping calm under pressure.

“When you are out there in the woods and you get lost, you can easily panic,” he said.

Team members compete individually, punching electronic cards to record their times in between remote route markers that must be found in sequential order. A team’s ranking is determined by its top finishing times. Recently, Parkview won second place in the Georgia Navigator Cup at F.D. Roosevelt State Park. Williams placed first in his event.

He is hoping to qualify individually for the 2009 Junior World Orienteering Championships in northern Italy this summer.

“He’s getting really fast,” said his mother, Amy Williams, an orienteer who coaches her son and the Parkview team.

Williams says he’s planning to raise the $3,000 he’ll need for lodging, airfare and fees for his trip to the Alps. He enjoys the unpredictability and intensity of international meets.

“We’re just like mail carriers — we go in the rain, shine, snow or sleet,” he said. “Almost every country has an orienteering club. You get a chance to travel the world.”