Halkirk Games was a record-breaker
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IT was a record-breaking day at the Halkirk Highland Games on Saturday.
A crowd of over 4500 people produced record gate takings of £12,557 – up by more than £1000 on the previous best total. And those who turned up at Recreation Park saw three ground records established – two in the heavy competition and one in the track-and-field. A record was also set in the confined-to-Caithness section in the long jump.
There was also drama away from the competitive side of the games when 36-year-old Tracy MacDonald was injured and taken to hospital after a 28lb weight thrown by American heavy Rusty Price struck her leg.
Price was doing a practice throw when the weight left his hand and careered over towards the secretary’s van. It bounced on the ground before striking the van but the chain caught Miss MacDonald on the ankle.
She was attended to by a first aid team and a doctor before being taken to Caithness General Hospital in Wick for an X-ray. Price also rushed over to see her and apologised for what happened. It later emerged she had damaged tendons in her right ankle.
Games secretary Iain Mackenzie – the brother-in-law of the injured woman – said afterwards that Price was “relieved” to find out that she was okay.
Miss MacDonald, from Brown Place, Wick, was allowed home on Saturday evening and although she was unable to go on a planned trip to Edinburgh did manage to travel to Inverness to see her 10-year-old niece, Erin Mackenzie, take part in a dancing competition.
Prior to the incident, Price set two ground records, in the 16lb ball and the 22lb ball. In the former he beat the 55ft 6in record established by fellow American Ryan Vierra in 2005 by four inches. In the latter he bettered by just one inch the record of 49ft 7in set by Australian Matt Sandford in 2003.
But the accident seemed to affect his performance and he could not prevent his fellow American, Mike Pockoski, from taking the heavy championship honours.
However, the star performance of the day came from Andrew Raeburn, of Thurso, who created a ground record in the hop, step and leap and established a confined-to-Caithness record in the long jump.
He beat by one-quarter of an inch the record of 45ft 5.25 inches set by A. Strange, from Fort William, in 2008 and demolished his own confined-to-Caithness record of 18ft 10in in the long jump with a massive leap of 20ft 5.5in.
Raeburn also won the 85m and 200m races and took third place in the 800m and the high jump on his way to winning the Caithness championship and sharing the open title with Fraser Davidson, from Aberdeen. Raeburn also won a total of five other cups, including the Prince Henry Sinclair Trophy for the most outstanding performance by a Caithness competitor.
Young Craig Wares, from Thurso, emerged triumphant in the open 14 years and under-16 track-and-field events after seeing off strong competition from Liam MacAdie, of Papigoe, and Rorie Stewart, of Halkirk.
In the cycling, Craig Hardie, from Dalgety Bay in Fife, won the open championship while Thurso’s Allan Clark took the Caithness title, with Ben Arnold, from Wick, securing the under-16 open championship after a keenly-contested tussle with Edward Fletcher, of Grantown-on-Spey.
The open dancing championship for 16 and over was won by Laura Smith, from Cairnie near Huntly, while the 12 and under-16 title went to Emily MacDonald, from Dingwall, with the under-12 open championship going to Lyndsey Douglas, from Birnam.
Once again Niall Matheson, from Inverness, dominated the senior open piping, winning two of the four events – the piobaireachd and the jig – and coming second in the march and the strathspey and reel on his way to taking the championship.
In the junior piping section, Norman Gillies, Ullapool, came out on top in the 15 and under-18 category with Cameron MacDougall, from Nigg, winning all three events in the under-15 contest.
The clay-pigeon shooting competition was won by A. Morrison, from Durness, with C. Morrison, also from Durness, winning the open under-18 event.
The baby show championship went to Robbie Dalgleish.
Throughout the day the crowd was entertained by the Dumbarton and District Pipe Band which was making its first appearance in the county.
Games treasurer Neen Banks was delighted with the large attendance and record receipts.
“We had over 4500 people here and took £12,557 at the gate – the most we have ever had. It is absolutely amazing. The previous best was £11,413 in 2008 so we are up by over £1000 on that figure,” he said.
“We have had a tremendous response from the public who turned out in numbers despite the downturn in the economy. And the weather was with us again this year. It just gets better and better.”
He praised the hard work done by the games committee.
