THOSE with a healthy liking for the outdoors, a keen sense of adventure, competent map-reading skills and a good grounding in endurance techniques, will be attracted to the Lowe Alpine mountain marathon which is scheduled to be held ''somewhere two hours north of Glasgow'' over the weekend of June 13 and 14.
The exact location is revealed to competitors only 36 hours before the marathon gets under way to prevent them carrying out any substantial advance route-planning.
This year's contest was open to teams of two and the entry limit of 300 pairs has already been reached.
The object is for each team to navigate its way successfully, and under its own steam, through a challenging chunk of wild countryside. Sounds simple, but as organiser Martin Stone explained: ''There's a lot of climbing and rough terrain to be negotiated.'' There are, however, different grades of routes, with elite competitors tackling a 29km stage on the first day and 25km on the second day. At the other end of the scale are two 13km days.
Stone suggests the event is best suited to people who have done a bit of mountain running and orienteering and those who have broad experience of endurance sports. He said: ''We try to make the whole thing an adventurous weekend with a few surprises thrown in.''
It's not one for the faint-hearted.
Meanwhile, Scotland's most northerly triathlon takes place on Orkney tomorrow when dozens of competitors from all over the islands and a handful from the mainland converge on Kirkwall Grammar School for the competition which takes the form of a 1500m swim, 40km cycle and 10km run.
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