Orienteering: 2015 world event to be held in Scotland

Scotland is to host the 2015 World Orienteering Championships after Britain won the right to stage the event despite facing strong competition from a Swedish bid.

The International Orienteering Federation announced the news yesterday.

The championships will be based in Inverness during August 2015 and will utilise the world-class terrain along the Moray coast and in the Cairngorms National Park.

The Scottish 6 Days event will run parallel to the World Championships, bringing 5,000 competitors to the area and boosting the local economy by an estimated 2 million.

The foundation of the British bid was the strong partnership which has developed between orienteering organisations, government agencies and the local community, who all have a shared vision for the event.

The partners are: British Orienteering, the Scottish Orienteering Association, EventScotland, the Scottish 6 Days Event Company and the Highland Council.

Shona Robison, Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport, said: "Congratulations to the bid team and I am delighted we will be welcoming the World Orienteering Championships to Scotland in 2015.

"It is a wonderful legacy from (the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in] 2014 that we will continue to have world-class sporting events in Scotland beyond this milestone year. It further demonstrates our capability at staging such major events and further enhances our active messaging across the country."

Dr Mike Cantlay, chairman of EventScotland and VisitScotland, commented: "This once again shows Scotland's huge ambition to attract major world-class events and continues to build on our fantastic event tourism opportunities post-2014."

The last time the World Championships was held in Scotland was 1999, again in the Inverness area.

That event attracted 350 competitors and officials and was televised in Sweden and Norway.

Ahead of 2015, the World Championships will be hosted by France, Switzerland, Finland and Italy.