Young Orienteers Find their Way to Holyrood

Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park welcomes around 450 children from 20 countries this week to take part in the 2008 International SchoolSport Federation (ISF) World Schools Orienteering Championships.

The guests, including the Secretary General of the International SchoolSport Federation, Jan Coolen, were greeted at Tuesday’s Opening Ceremony by pipers from Boghall and Bathgate Juvenile Pipe band and entertained by the Royal Scotland Country Dance Society.

Orienteering is a highly individual event, with participants racing round an unseen course by interpreting a very detailed map.

The event comprises a Long Distance Race, which takes place in Devilla, Fife, on Wednesday, a Middle Distance Race at Barr Wood, near Stirling on Friday and a friendship relay on Saturday. The final event is for teams of three orienteers from different nations (and their coaches!) to compete in a fast, furious and friendly race in Edinburgh city centre including Holyrood Park.

Scotland has a tradition of producing fine orienteers, the most successful being Edinburgh’s Jamie Stevenson, who won the senior Sprint World Championships in 2003. Scottish school teams have not been going to the World Schools Championships for long and this is the first ISF Championship held in the UK. The International SchoolSport Federation (ISF) is the World organising body for school sport. With a membership of over 60 countries from all five continents, the Federation organises World Championships in a wide range of sports.

Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson MSP said, “Orienteering is obviously a very challenging sport, and although a competition, this event provides the opportunity for young people from across the globe to come together in the spirit of international friendship. I am especially delighted that the Opening and Closing Ceremonies are being held in Scotland’s Parliament and that we will be able to warmly welcome each one of these young Ambassadors.”

Around 450 participants between 13 and 16 years of age will not only compete in the races but Thursday sees them having a day’s sightseeing and evening events include a disco and tourism events, in which each country entertains the others. Athletes from 20 countries including Austria, Belgium, China, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey are involved.

During the week, 80 Scottish school pupils from the following 12 schools will take part:

• Aboyne Academy (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine);
• Belmont Academy (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley);
• Biggar High School (Clydesdale);
• Craigmount High (Edinburgh West);
• Currie High (Edinburgh Pentlands);
• Douglas Academy (Clydebank and Milngavie);
• Firrhill High (Edinburgh Pentlands);
• Jedburgh Grammar (Roxburgh and Berwickshire);
• Kilmarnock Academy (Kilmarnock and Loudoun);
• Lanark Grammar (Clydesdale);
• Peebles High (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale);
• St. Thomas Aquinas (Glasgow Anniesland).

The closing ceremony will then take place in the Parliament’s landscaped gardens between 2.00pm and 3.30pm, hosted by the Presiding Officer. Medals will be awarded by the Presiding Officer and Christine Grahame MSP Convener, Health and Sport Committee. Edinburgh Samba Band will entertain the crowds and championship participants. Roads around the Parliament and Holyrood Park will be closed from 7.00am to 4.00pm.
For more information about orienteering in the Edinburgh area contact Janet Clark on 0131 225 7771 or check out the Scottish Orienteering Association’s web site here.