Sport In Profile UK Issue 09 | Page 43

world orienteering championships 2015 World Orienteering Championships 2015 France’s Thierry Gueorgiou picks up his 13th World Championship title in Scotland The IOF World Orienteering Championships 2015 concluded Friday 7th August with the Long race, considered by many as the blue riband event of the World Championships, held in Glen Affric, 25 miles south-west of Inverness. Denmark’s Ida Bobach took the women’s title, while the men’s race was won by France’s Thierry Gueorgiou. The best British result came from Cat Taylor, who finished sixth in the women’s race. Set against the backdrop of some spectacular Highland scenery, the courses took the athletes through difficult terrain as they navigated their way over big hills, around tough marshes and through deep heather on courses of 15.5 km for the men and 9.7 km for the women. Many athletes commented on the physical challenge of the course, with champion Gueorgiou describing the course as “as tough as I expected” and Anna Nilsson-Simkovics of Austria saying that she had enjoyed the race “even though everything was a marsh”. Several runners also noted the similarity of the terrain to that in Norway, and Norwegian athletes did do well, taking two medals. Image courtesy of Jan Kobach www.sportip.biz 43