Orienteering: A Sport Grows in Somers

SOMERS, N.Y. - Ed Hicks, founder and president of Orienteering Unlimited, describes orienteering as “a hike with a purpose or a competitive race using a map.” It can be done “on foot, on skis, on bikes, on horses, in canoes and even in wheelchairs. It provides mental challenges, lifetime skills, physical activity, excitement and just plain fun.”

But what is it? Simple. A group of people gather at a starting point. Individually, they navigate to a final destination, using a detailed map as reference, but choosing their own paths. Specific checkpoints must be reached along the way. It is like a large-as-life maze, a sport “for pre-schoolers to people in their nineties,” says Hicks.

“There is a lot of decision making involved,” he says. “Sometimes they call it ‘the thinking sport.’ You need to make choices as you go. Using a compass is okay, but you need a map because it shows the obstacles, not just the direction.”

Hicks himself has competed in orienteering events both national and international including the prestigious Swedish O-ringen. Since courses are laid out with colors and symbols rather than language, anyone from any country can compete. Hicks has even gone to Italy to teach the sport.

Now retired from teaching biological life science, Hicks devotes most of his time to his sport and his maps. His company creates orienteering maps, sells related equipment, offers training programs for schools, teachers and camp directors, develops custom maps for corporations, camps, parks, and others and makes map display signs.

Hicks has made hundreds of maps, not all of them for sports purposes. Currently he is working on a trail map of Somers’ Angle Fly Preserve. “I start with an aerial photograph and have it turned into a base map. Then I take that into the field and walk the property very thoroughly, marking everything -- the trails, the stone walls, the water features. I use a tablet computer and plot and draw as I go.”

Locally, he has mapped Reis Park, Lasdon Park & Arboretum, Muscoot Farm, and all of the schools in Somers. The Muscoot map is on sale at the gift shop. Many of the others are on display at the sites.

For more information about map-making and orienteering, see the website.

Click here to follow Daily Voice Somers and receive free news updates.