"Orienteering is a sport for people who seek instant gratification, who need a sense of achievement every 100-200 meters," says Ehud Dafni. The startup entrepreneur from Caesarea says this is what inspired him and several dozen others to participate in an orienteering race at the Hofit area in the Sharon region two weeks ago.

At high noon, Dafni wipes sweat from his brow and says, "simply running is boring. We run, but surrounded by magnificent nature and use our brains to take the fastest and surest path from one point to the next and to the finishing line." He started running after his daughter Neta, almost 17, became the orienteering champion for her age group in Israel.

The orienteering sport is over 100 years old. It originated in Scandinavia, where it remains a popular sport. The Israeli Sport Orienteering Association was first established 26 years ago by former army personnel who may have wanted to recreate their military experiences.

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In the last five years, the number of participants in orienteering races has greatly increased and the association is now 1,100 members strong, with tens of thousands participating in the various races held throughout the year.

The schools' orienteering league is mainly responsible for promoting this sport, listing some 2,000 children. "The kids gave us a considerable push," says Ziv Neumann, the orienteering coordinator at the association. "The parents, who used to follow the children as chaperons, drivers and cheerleaders, have been won over and joined the orienteering."

The goal of orienteering is to reach the end of a track marked on a special map in the shortest amount of time, passing through all the marked checkpoints.

"The runners receive a map of the area just before the race starts, which is the first time they see the route they have to take," explains Neumann. "Time is also measured from that point on. They have to go from station to station, stamping a ticket at each stop, and race to the finish line. Each runner starts out separately, to avoid congestion and to prevent competitors from following one another.

In addition, there are several different routes at every race - varying by age, gender and level, so even if you see someone ahead of you, you can't be sure that he's running your route and it's not necessarily a good idea to follow him."

Races are usually held in forests, where it is difficult to follow other runners. The detailed map shows everything a runner is likely to see while running: large rocks, cliffs, the forest's web of tracks, special signs, caves, bushes. The first one to finish the route, do so in an hour. In another popular route, measuring four kilometers, families finish in an hour and a half to two hours, depending on their time constraints.

By 4 P.M., the Hofit-area race was already over. Most participants ran with their children.

The Ravids were in full attendance. Noam, 35, Naomi, 30, and their 6-month-old daughter Yael, and 4-year-old son Yoav. In other races, these parents take turns - one runs and the other walks with the children. "This time we came for the fun, for the flowers, the air, the lovely route to the ocean and the family outing," says Noam Ravid, while serving his son his first watermelon of the season.

Still he gives himself a hard time: "I made plenty of stupid mistakes. I ran too fast and missed a station, and on another occasion I found myself following runners ahead of me without paying attention to the route. I also lost focus and went offtrack." But at the end of the day, the family enjoyed the long sunny route and receiving the certificate of participation.

Later on, the competitive runners, who took the longer route, also gather at the lawn next to the last station. Yair Eizenberg, 56 from Hod Hasharon, ran his first competitive race in Hofit. "I started orienteering after my son, who signed up for the class in school and I came with him," he says. "I found in it both a sport and a mental challenge, plus it's in nature, so I joined. Now I'm hooked."

The beginning was not easy. "I liked to ski, I rode a bicycle and worked out at the gym, but I grew bored. Eventually, I was out of shape. When I started orienteering, I could only walk the route. Later I alternated between walking and running and now I can run. The advantage of running like this is that your head is busy searching for the stations, identifying waypoints and looking at the map, it is distracted from thinking constantly about the pain in your lungs and legs."