It takes huge commitment and talent to reach elite level in any sport. To do it in two is downright astonishing. But how about three? Welcome to the multi-tasking world of Scottish youngster Scott Fraser.

The 21-year-old from Mayfield in Midlothian was one of two Scots who recently competed in the world orienteering championships in the Ukraine. This high achiever wasn't too thrilled with his 17th place. But he was being rather modest - it was still a great effort in his first year as a senior.

Another achievement this summer was a victory in the Braemar Hill Race. He entered just to have a change from orienteering - and he beat all five of the Scots selected to compete in the world hill running championships.

Not content with running in the wilds, Scott also has designs on a track career. In fact, he fancies running the 10,000m, and has already pencilled in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (well, hopefully) as a long-term goal.

In between all this high activity, Scott also manages to study hard. He is in his final year of a sports science degree at Edinburgh University and his academic plan is to go on and do a Masters in sports psychology, a discipline he says plays an important part in reaching the top in orienteering.

At present, orienteering is his No.1 sporting priority. This month, he competes in a World Cup event in Zurich in Switzerland and he will soon be heading to South Africa fro altitude training in preparation for one the World University Championships in Estonia next March. It's an event he intends to win.

So how did he get started in orienteering? "I enjoyed cross country running at Bryans Primary School and then I started training at Lasswade Athletics Club. It was my coach, Martin Hyman, who introduced me to orienteering," he explains.

"I still love hill running, but orienteering is my favourite. It requires a bit of everything - endurance, speed and you need to have tremendous concentration and be very quick mentally for the map reading skills. I'm learning all the time and do a lot of concentration training."

Scandinavia is the hot bed of orienteering, and Scot lived in Norway for a while honing his skills and learning his trade.

His dedication is rapidly paying dividends. This year, he was a surprise winner of the British Orienteering Championships in Scarborough, and he is now a member of the British elite squad. "It was a bit of a surprise to win," he, again, modestly admits. "It was my first time in the senior event."

In a sport that gains little in the way of publicity, the financial rewards do not match Scott's ability or devotion to training. "The GB team has no money," he says with no hint of bitterness. "I do get some Midlothian grants but mostly I finance my sport through part-time jobs."

Even his means of employment is geared towards his sport - he draws maps for schools.

"I really do just love running long distance running, and orienteering adds some extra mental skills," he continued. "But I have already thought of doing some track racing and the 10,000m would be good fun. I don't think I would make the next Commonwealth Games, but Glasgow 2014 is definitely a possibility."

EB

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