With National Orienteering Week coming up in June, a Farnham woman is trying to raise the profile of the sport, while at the same time seeking to balance her training needs with the demands of being a surgeon.

Sarah Rollins (25) of Waverley Lane, has been a member of the Great Britain orienteering squad for two years. And she has had plenty of success, coming 19th in the World Cup short race in Portugal and and 13th in the Word Championship sprint race in Belgium in August 2001.

She became British Night Champion last month and, more recently, she competed in the Interland Championship, a European competition, where she beat some of the top names in the sport. She won the short race and was second in the long-distance event.

Orienteering is like cross-country running, but competitors have maps to show them where to go, rather than simply following pointers. The courses often take competitors over very tough terrain, through forests and across rivers. It is muddy, mentally and physically challenging, but very rewarding.

The usual route into orienteering begins at school, going through the junior championships and progressing into university leagues.

Sarah Rollins entered the sport as an adult, having been introduced to it by a colleague, and in five years has risen to being ranked in the top three in the country.

She said: "You don't have to be at the peak of fitness to orienteer. If you go charging off, you will get lost. Those who use their brains get round faster."

"It's a great way of keeping fit, as you are concentrating so hard on map reading that you forget you are exercising" Those at the top of the sport are as fit as any international cross-country athlete, she added.

Circuit classes are a vital part of her training and she goes to the gym to build up her strength.

This year is another World Cup year and Rollins, who is coached by her husband, will be competing as far afield as Scandinavia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. If selected, she will also be competing in the World Student Orienteering Championships.

She qualifies for these championships because, less than a year ago, she qualified as a doctor and is in the Royal Army Medical Corps. This makes all that she has achieved all the more remarkable, as she had to fit her training needs around a very intense career.

"I trained before and after studying, and I now train before and after work. When I was a house officer at Frimley Park Hospital, I worked 8 am to 5 pm shifts, and when I wasn't on call, I could train after work.

"Now I am a surgeon at Ashford and St Peter's, and I start at 10 am and finish at 10 pm, with the next day off, so I can fit training in then.

"I believe in the quality of the training, not the quantity," she continued. "If you really want to do something, it's possible."

The British Orienteering Federation wants to promote the sport as much as it can. National Orienteering Week will feature a series of promotional events, both nationally and at club level, taking place up and down the country. All are designed to raise awareness of a little-known sport.

Sarah Rollins is hoping to get Farnham Sports Centre involved. She would like to get local people interested in the sport that has become her passion.

For information about orienteering, or National Orienteering Week, which is running from June 8 to June 22, call the British Orienteering Federation on 01629 734042.