News

A successful World Masters MTBO Championships Scotland 2026

Posted: 14/09/26

Over the last week many BMBO members have taken part in the first World Masters MTBO championships ever to be held in Britain. The event was hosted jointly by The Scottish Orienteering Association and BMBO in the Moray region of Scotland. They were joined by 350 riders from 29 countries, as far away as Australia and New Zealand. With the best in the World taking part it was always going to a very competitive event. There were four different events, sprint, middle, long distance and mass start. There were many good rides by BMBO riders. Most notably Ian Nixon came away with two gold, one silver and one bronze medal whilst Nick Dallimore, Karena Hanley, Alan Cherry, Nicky Griffin and Mary Williams all won gold medals as well.

The spirit and camaraderie of the event is well summed up by the Event Coordinator, Keith Dawson in his report below.

Tony Brand-Barker
BMBO Chairman

"So WMMTBOC26 in Scotland is a wrap! A vision of three years ago became a wonderful reality this week in the beautiful and varied forests of the Moray coast. Thank you so very much for all your kind and immensely enthusiastic comments about the races and your wonderful smiling faces.

Thank you to all the fantastic volunteers and organising teams and the landowners for their fantastic cooperation and support. Four varied courses and terrains with a closing Long course planned by Emily Benham Kvåle and a great Ceilidh organised by James and Elspeth Stewart on Saturday night. It was wonderful to hear your stories about how much you enjoyed the efforts we put in to make your "beep to beep" experience "one of the best ever".
Thanks to SOA and Richard Oxlade and BMBO and Tony Brand-Barker for their support and to Tiago Fernandes our great SEA. Special thanks to Steve Smirthwaite for all his superb efforts on maps, controlling and a thousand other jobs over the last three years and to Bob Cherry, Mark Stodgell, and Karena Hanley for their key roles. An extra special mention must be made to Linda Cairns who managed to find nearly 100 willing volunteers to help over the course of the week. Not an easy task.
Two things made me very happy this week as Event Coordinator. The first were all your smiles and enthusiasm and great compliments for our race and forest efforts-Thank you! The second joy was the obvious and enthusiastic adventures you experienced and told of in our wonderful Scottish landscape and the cultural experiences you enjoyed and relished. A land I have loved and called my home for the last 45 years. Some of you were here for the first time and others discovered Scotland anew on the Sunshine Coast of Moray (and also their whiskies and Highland coos). I told you the weather would be good here!
I am glad you experienced such a wonderful mix of MTBO and Scottish landscape and Welcome. Thank you for making the huge effort and expense to journey across the cold North Sea to the Warm Welcome and Sunshine of the Moray Coast. A safe and easy journey home to your 29 nations. You are welcome Anytime and Always our MTBO Family.

Keith Dawson
(WMMTBOC26 Event Coordinator)"

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