From Wednesday 18 June until Friday 20 June Arran will host some top class journalists in the VisitScotland Media Adventure Challenge. With mountains, moors, standing stones, beautiful beaches and historic castles, Arran is the perfect host for this increasingly popular event.

This highly competitive UK Trail Quest series of events is designed to test both navigational and biking skills as well as showcase the range of activities that the area has on offer and the high quality operators that can facilitate trips.

Previously the media Adventure Challenge has taken place in the Lothians, Perthshire, Highlands and North West Highlands and a total of 72 journalists from all over the UK and Europe have competed against each other in various adventure sports (mountain biking, hill walking and canoeing to mention a few) in the past.

Over 45 pieces of press coverage were generated during the first three years. In 2006 TV participated for the first time through Sportsround and in 2007 the Adventure Show for BBC2 participated. New media for 2007 was online media, Guardian Unlimited. L’Equipe, the largest outdoor pursuit’s magazine in France, with an estimated readership of 520,000, participated in 2007.

In 2007 a dedicated event website was created; http://adventure.visitscotland.com/challenge

A very significant and enthusiastic media database of approximately 100 contacts has been created as a result of the events and this has been extremely useful in achieving publicity throughout the year.

VisitScotland hope this event will put Arran on the map as the perfect Adventure destination.

For further information please contact Gillian.Thompson@visitscotland.com