CLEVELAND — Elite challengers from across the Americas have gathered in Cleveland to vie for supremacy in a variety of athletic competitions! The Pan-American Masters Games feature all the classic sports, like tennis, baseball, basketball and ... reading maps and doing math while running through the woods!
Yes, this is a sport called "Orienteering” and it's certainly one of the more unique official sports of the Games.
Orienteering is the sport of navigation, using a highly detailed map. And you’re up against the clock.
My guide at the Long Distance event was Bob Boltz, a 72-year-old retired teacher from Nordonia who’s been involved in the sport for 34 years and still moves like a puma. He's part of a local group called the Northeast Ohio Orienteering Club. He took me into the course and gave me the rundown on how the game is best played.
The sport draws competitors of all kinds ... and I’m told, good route choice often beats raw speed.
Realistically, the sport of orientation may never gain the fan base that, say, American football has achieved. From a spectator's perspective, it just kind of looks like people running through the woods trying to escape a non-existent bear that’s pursuing them.
But these athletes don’t seem particularly concerned about appearances or fanfare. Oh sure, the accolades are nice.... But it’s pretty clear that the real payoff is the chance to gather with a bunch of fellow map-savvy nature lovers, to spend some time running through the woods together.