Navigation For Runners

How to run fast in the lumpy stuff without getting lost, with mountain guide and navigation expert Charlie Sproson.

- Damian Hall

UNDERSTANDING THE MAP’S SCALE

A scale of 1:25,000 (1cm on map = 250m on the ground), such as the Ordnance Survey (OS) Explorer series (orange) means superfine detail, but the map itself is big and cumbersome.

A scale of 1:40,000 (1cm on map = 400m on the ground), such as Harvey Maps, has good detail and is probably the best for mountain navigation (it’s the same scale you get for races such as Lakeland 50/100 or mountain marathons like the Marmot Dark Mountains).

A scale of 1:50,000 (1cm on map = 500m on the ground), such as the OS Land Ranger series (pink) is detailed and great for planning in large areas or in places like Scotland in winter, as they have less features and snow flattens the terrain and reduces distinguishing landforms.

Harvey Maps tend to be better for mountain navigation (they only produce maps for mountain areas anyway), while OS are better for lowland areas.

READING THE MAP’S CODE

Understanding features and detail on the map is vital. Think of it like a new language or code. Understand the language and you’ll understand the map. Spend time at home – better than when the wind and rain are trying to rip the map from your hands – looking at the key/legend to learn what the symbols mean. One of the most important things to understand is contours. They explain how steep the hill that you mistakenly went down and now have to climb back up is. (1:25,000 maps have a 5m or 10m contour interval, depending on the area; on a 1:40,000 map, contours are 15m apart; 1:50,000 has a 10m contour interval.)

ORIENTATING THE MAP

Always have your map orientated the right way. Get this wrong and your map won’t make any sense – in fact it’ll likely get you even more miss-placed! There are two ways to do it: