Nopesport

Forth Valley Orienteers and Tayside orienteers invite to this summer's major Schiehallion Weekend races, taking place in fabulous terrain centred around the famous Perthshire mountain from 19-21 June and including the final round of the UK Elite Orienteering League.

 About the Schiehallion Weekend

The Schiehallion Weekend will take place from 19-21 June 2015 and is organised by Forth Valley Orienteers and Tayside Orienteers. The three races make up the final of the UK's premier elite orienteering competition, the UK Elite Orienteering League, and include two World Ranking Events, two Scottish Orienteering League races and one Scottish Orienteering Urban League race. An important focus for the weekend will be engaging with the local community; letting them see - and be inspired by - world class orienteering athletes as well as getting a chance to try out their orienteering skills on the same map and terrain as the international athletes.

The Schiehallion Weekend is inspired by the famous Perthshire mountain, perhaps the spiritual home of orienteering in the UK; this is where contours were first used in 1777. Forth Valley Orienteers' last major event - Stirling Race the Castles - won the prestigious World Sprint Orienteering Course of the Year 2014.

Sponsorship has been secured from Deeside Orienteering and Leisure Maps, ggmaps andsportscotland's Sportsmatch program to ensure this exciting competition has a long-lasting impact in the local community and to help provide the largest ever prize fund for a UK orienteering competition.

The Schiehallion Weekend is being seen by orienteering squads from around the globe as the essential event to attend in the run up to the World Orienteering Championships, which will be taking place in Scotland later in the summer.

Jon Musgrave, from Deeside Orienteering and Leisure maps said, "This is a fantastic time to be involved in orienteering in Scotland. The world championships will be here in the summer, the sport is growing rapidly and we have lots of exciting races with top class runners on challenging terrain. I'm particularly excited about the Schiehallion weekend as we know Forth Valley will put on an excellent show."

Meanwhile, Roger Goddard, president of Forth Valley Orienteers, is most interested in the opportunities for the local community; "The first race of the weekend is an urban race starting at Bannockburn High School. This will be a great opportunity for local residents to see world class athletes in action on home turf. There will be chances to take part both during and after the event, with instant access to a new and essentially free recreational opportunity. With the great support from sportscotland, we are planning to design courses which can be used by the school at their convenience as well as reusing the map for future events for the general public. In fact, this will be the start of a series of exciting community projects we have in the pipeline."

Dougie Porteous from Active Stirling said, "We work very closely with Forth Valley Orienteers and support their plans to build the profile of orienteering through the event at Bannockburn High School and sustain the sport in the school in the future."

Finally, Graham Gristwood, owner of ggmaps and one of Britain's top orienteers, said, "Foreign elites are already queuing up to race at Schiehallion, with a number of countries using it to select their teams for the world championships. The UK Elite Orienteering League only launched this year and this amazing prize fund will mean that the final at Schiehallion will be the race to be at this year, outside of the World Championships of course!"