Summary of Competition Rules to be Applied from 2004/2005

During the end of the last competition season, the Technical Committee has conducted a review on the organisation of orienteering competitions in the territory.  From the 04-05 orienteering season, the organisation of orienteering competitions shall be re-organised and streamlined.  The major changes have been summarised as follows.

A.     Ranking League 

1.      The OAHK shall select not more than five open orienteering competitions that provide different courses to classes divided according to age and sex as the Ranking League.

2.      In a Ranking League competition, all classes (except the DE and HE classes) shall be opened to members of the OAHK.

3.      The DE and HE class shall each comprise of not more than thirty competitors selected by the OAHK. From the next season, HE and DE runners attaining average Ranking score of not less than 800 shall retain their membership of the respective elite class. Other members of the classes shall be selected from top runners of H21A, D21A classes in the Ranking League and other runners attaining outstanding results in the Championship events.

4.      The HE and DE classes shall be arranged to start before other classes in a Ranking League competition.

5.     The H50 classes shall be introduced in the coming season.

B.     Championship Competitions 

1.      From the 04-05 season, the OAHK shall organise three Annual Open Championship Competitions in the Sprint, Middle Distance and Classic Distance format.

2.      Championship Competitions shall have one class for women and one for men. There are no age restrictions.

3.     For the Annual Classic Distance Championship, HE, DE, H21A and D21A class runners shall be qualified according to their ranking score in the Ranking League; other runners must attain front running positions in the brown course in a Colour coded competition.

C.     Colour Coded Competitions 

1.          From 04-05 season onwards, Colour Coded Competitions shall no longer be a basis of ranking of OAHK members.

D.     Use of EMIT System 

1.     The EMIT electronic punching system shall be used in all the Championship Competitions, Ranking League Competitions, Colour Coded Competitions and all other events organised by or on behalf of the OAHK. All clubs are encouraged to adopt the EMIT system in any open orienteering competitions.

2.     Competitors participating in the Championship Competitions and Ranking League Competitions shall use their own EMIT Card.  The OAHK shall promulgate details for the purchase or rental of such cards.

3.     The club shall make individual arrangement for the use of EMIT cards in a Colour Coded Competitions and in other events that uses the EMIT System.

E.     Other Changes 

1.      There shall no longer be individual prizes in an individual Ranking League Competition but the Annual League Class Champion prize shall continue. For the Colour Coded Competitions, individual competitions shall present prizes to course winners.

2.      Start interval for the DE and HE classes shall not be less than two minutes, and it shall not be less than one minute for the other classes.

3.      The organiser club shall decide whether to embargo a competition area.

4.      Map scale for a classic distance competition shall be 1:10,000. The map scale for middle distance and relay competitions shall be either 1:10,000 or 1:15,000.  The sprint competition shall use maps of scale 1:5,000 or larger.

5.      The number of registered officials for a Ranking League Competition shall not exceed 20 and the organising club shall register its officials at least seven days beforehand with the OAHK. The ranking score for a registered official shall be the average of his/her two highest ranking scores.