2015 World Orienteering Championships coming to Scotland-Scottish Orienteering

2015 World Orienteering Championships coming to Scotland

British Orienteering awarded the 2015 World Orienteering Championships

At a press conference today the International Orienteering Federation announced that British Orienteering will host the 2015 World Orienteering Championships. There was competition to stage the event with Sweden submitting a strong bid; however the strength of the British Orienteering bid won favour with the IOF.

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 will run in parallel to the Championships and will bring 5000 competitors to the area boosting the local economy by an estimated £2 million.

The foundation of the British bid is 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.

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 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.
Shona Robison, Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport

We are delighted to have been awarded the 2015 Championships and look forward to working with the IOF and our other partners in delivering an exciting and memorable event
Lyn West, Chairman British Orienteering

It is great for British Orienteering and Scotland to have successfully won the bid to host the World Championships in 2015. I am sure that with the continued hard work of the partnerships established, Scotland will prove to be the perfect stage for this event.
Paul Bush OBE, Chief Operating Officer for EventScotland

Scotland has been recognised by the international orienteering community as having world-class areas for staging major events. In the run up to 2015 we look forward to hosting the JK2012 International Orienteering Festival as well as the Scottish Orienteering 6Day Event Company in Moray 2013. We look forward to meeting orienteers from across the world at these and other competitions before the main event in 2015.
Colin Matheson, Professional Officer Scottish Orienteering Association

We are honoured to be involved with the partnership formed to stage the prestigious WOC 2015 event and associated public races. We will do our utmost to deliver an unforgettable experience for everyone.
Lynne Walker, Chairman Scottish Orienteering 6-Day Event Company

we are absolutely delighted to be welcoming the World Championships back to the Highlands. We saw a lasting sporting and economic benefit the last time the championships were in the area and I’m sure it will be bigger and better this time round. We will prepare our best Highland welcome for everyone involved
Councillor Bill Fernie, Chair of The Highland Council’s Education Culture and Sport committee

For Media Enquiries Contact:
Lorna Campbell
EventScotland
lorna.campbell@eventscotland.org
07966 002009

Dave Peel
British Orienteering
DPeel@britishorienteering.org.uk
07891 091470

Download the 2015 World Orienteering Championships announcement press release

Recent post on this website: Securing world orienteering event could earn north £2m

EventScotland, the national events agency, works to promote Scotland as the perfect stage for events. By developing an exciting sporting and cultural portfolio it helps to raise Scotland’s international profile and boost the economy through events tourism. www.EventScotland.org The year of Active Scotland is a Scottish Government initiative and is one of a series of focus years and a legacy from Homecoming Scotland 2009 being delivered by EventScotland and VisitScotland which aims to encourage and inspire everyone to get active. For more information on events in the year of Active Scotland go to www.eventscotland.org/activescotland

Photo of author Posted on 18th Aug 11
by Paul Frost - Website Developer

Filed under: Fixtures/Events • News

Ali Robertson says:

This is absolutely fantastic news for SOA and BO alike. It would be great if we can tap off the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and get some taster events down there to coincide with the games and show off orienteering to the sporting world ahead of WOC 2015.

Posted by Ali Robertson on 18th Aug 11 at 02:54 PM

Mike Rodgers says:

Moravian have been asked do an orienteering demo in conjunction with Active Schools as one of 2 successful local sports (the other being basketball) that are being showcased as part of the Scottish Cabinet Roadshow visit to Elgin on 6th September. The Scottish Exec are really pushing the ‘Active Scotland’ theme ahead of the Games in 2014 and it’s terrific that as a non-CG sport we’re getting some visibility. I can promise you, if the opportunity arises, that we’ll be plugging WOC 2015 (and Moray 2013) to Mr Salmond & co for all it’s worth. We’ll try to get that message across for you Ali!

Posted by Mike Rodgers on 18th Aug 11 at 03:18 PM

Dick Carmichael says:

Great news. Here we go again for Highland 99 and WOC 99 (take 2) with the benefit of experience at integration of the two events only 16 years before ! Congratulations to all involved in the bid team this time around !
May the ongoing BO governance review and the Club and Association conferance in October take full cognisance of the fact that this is the second big 50:50 partnership between BO and SOA in less that two decades and giving central control of the whole GB sport to SE England BO directors at this time (as proposed by the BO Governance review) may not be the best policy for a cohesive WOC2015 delivery. The doubters said it couldn’t be done (joining six day to WOC) in 1999 ! We proved them wrong and surely in 2015 we can together deliver a master class!
A 4 Nations seperate assembly within BO as proposed by the BOF working party in 1993/4 needs to be voted on at BO AGM 2012, the only one this decade in Scotland and thus the only one likely to get a sensible vote, to ensure that the devolution process under way politicaly, is also mirrored in our partnership delivery in 2015 and in keeping all partners happy!

Dick Carmichael
Former Technical director WOC 99 Ltd and former Chairman/director Scottish Six day company (1986-2001)

Posted by Dick Carmichael on 18th Aug 11 at 06:34 PM

Roger Scrutton says:

Fantastic news. Well done to everyone involved in achieving this. It’s quite a challenge, but we have no shortage of enthusiasm, expertise and experience. I guess this is Day 1 of the preparation. Good luck, Mike, when the Scottish Cabinet visits.

Posted by Roger Scrutton on 19th Aug 11 at 08:51 AM

Swedish WOC2015-candidate Strömstad-Tanum says:

Congratulations Scotland and British Orienteering!
The Swedish candidate for WOC2015, Strömstad-Tanum in Bohuslän-Dal, wish you good luck with the event.

Posted by Swedish WOC2015-candidate Strömstad-Tanum on 20th Aug 11 at 09:22 AM

Gross says:

Got to agree with Dick for once :) BOF & the SOA need to sort out their relationships… and fast!

Hopefully there won’t be a situation in 2015 of WOC being organised from the SE England again… 800 km away… but I guess the Southerners will send it north so the organisation will be Sheffield based!

Posted by Gross on 20th Aug 11 at 02:37 PM