Perth hailed as “world class” orienteering venue

Sep 14 2010 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

ATHLETES from almost 20 countries battled it out in Perth at the weekend for top honours in orienteering’s Park World Tour.

Roads in the centre of the Fair City were partially closed to traffic to allow the 60-strong international field to compete for a share of £5000 prize fund.

Swede Helena Jansson was first across the line in the women’s race, conquering the highly technical course in 15 minutes and 20 seconds.

But she admitted she had difficulty when navigating the city centre’s vennels, describing the 2km as “really tough”.

“But that’s just the way it should be,” she said. “The Perth course is on a whole different level, even compared to the ones used for the world championships.”

British athlete Graham Gristwood ensured a nail-biting finale to the men’s event, eventually finishing 28 seconds behind Norway’s Oystein Kvaal Osterbo.

Murray Strain flew the flag for Scotland and finished an impressive fifth. He said: “Avoiding all the shoppers made my race a bit more challenging but it was exciting at the same time.

“There was such a buzz around the course. The spectators were great, even the slightly baffled members of the public who looked like they didn’t really know what was going on.”

An open event was also held, attracting about 200 runners. Comrie’s Cathy Tilbrook was first over the line in the female veteran’s category.

Girls from the Royal School Dunkeld surprised their male rivals to take the top place on the podium in the contest for primary school youngsters. Boys from Breadalbane Academy and Crieff finished second and third. Crieff High School scooped all three prizes in the secondary section.

Event organiser Scott Fraser declared: “The entire weekend was an excellent showcase for the sport, as well as for Perth itself. We’ve been supported throughout by Perth and Kinross Council, along with local firm I&H Brown and Event Scotland.”