Forres Sprint Final will be televised
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THE SPRINT final of the World Orienteering Championships will be beamed live around the country from Forres.
Local councillor George Alexander described it as an “incredible coup” for the town.
Last year it was in Venice, and the footage from that event is incredible,” he said. “Imagine what it will be like from Forres.”He added: “I don’t think we have really got our head around this yet. But it’s huge. last year Venice, this year Forres.”
Local orienteering development officer Mike Rodgers who has been promoting the championships around the town said it is very exciting.
He said he had finally received confirmation from Paul McGreal, the event director that the event will be shown live on British TV.
“We think this is the first time the sport has ever featured on live terrestrial TV in the country,” added Mr McGeal.” BBC Alba will be broadcasting live from the Sprint Relay (Nairn), Sprint Final (Forres) and Middle Distance (Darnaway) races.”BBC Alba is available via set-top boxes, and also via the BBC online and i-Player channels. The BBC2 Scotland ‘Adventure Show’ will also be filming the Long race (Glen Affric) for broadcast shortly after WOC. “They have been doing a series of short introductory segments in their regular shows as well,” he said. “This week was the third of them and featured Ali McLeod.”
Mr Rodgers said that big screens will be set up around the town for people to watch the action as part of the arena set up.
“Camera footage from out on the course as well as GPS tracking using the map will be shown to spectators on giant screens so they can follow the action (as well as this being used for the TV coverage),” he said.
This only applies to the final on August 2 although people will be able to see the set up at Nairn the evening before.
“There will be commentary over a PA system helping the public make sense of it all,” he added.
He expects the qualifying heats to be in the Pilmuir area on Friday night from 6pm onwards with the final taking place at Grant Park in around the town from 5pm Sunday.
“In the finals, the fastest runners from the qualifiers start last,” he said.
Parking for both is at Grant Park, exactly where they park for the Highland games.
He explained that people will start arriving in town from early afternoon both days.
“Spectator points out on the course will be very obvious,” he said. “People can’t fail to miss the control stations and TV cameras which are being placed when they set up the course in the afternoons.”The athletes will be placed in a quarantine location in the town away from the competition area while this is going on so they gain no knowledge of the course.
“They will only be released and taken to the start when it’s time to go,” he said. “It’s a very, very pressured situation for them.”
For more about the event and road closures on the day see pages 5 and 37 in this wek's print edition.
