Moray could be in for a Swiss-led invasion as athletes from 23 nations are lining up to take part in the Scottish 6 Days Orienteering Festival later this year.
Moray, Nairn and Inverness will host the Festival alongside the World Orienteering Championships in August.
Entries for the Scottish 6 Days event opened last month – and already 500 athletes have submitted entries with 62 of these aiming to travel from Switzerland for the event.
The added attraction of the World Championships is seeing a greater urgency for places at the Scottish 6 Days, with organisers expecting a greater number of club runners to be signing up in the next few months to test their skills alongside the World’s Elite athletes.
A total of 4000 people took part the last time the Scottish 6 Days was held two years ago – now organisers believe that will be exceeded in August, with almost 90% of those taking part in 2013 saying that they were likely or very likely to return in 2015 with a wish to revisit Scotland a major factor in their decision.
Mike Rodgers, the sports development officer in Moray, said that the only disappointment in 2013 was the relatively small number of local people who took part in the event – a situation he hopes will be remedied in August.
He said: “I can well understand how people might have thought that it was for dedicated orienteers only.
“However, that could not be further from the truth – this is a holiday festival which is all about mass participation so nobody need think they’re not good enough to take part.”
Anyone interested in finding out more about the event should visit www/scottish6days.com/2015 or find the event’s page on Facebook and join almost 1400 people who have followed the page so far.
Further information on the World Orienteering Championships can be found online at www.woc2015.org.