Cross country running was back on the local sporting calendar when Dale golf course welcomed the Shetland championships for the first time on Sunday.

Callendar Park, Falkirk, played host once again to the 2010 Scottish Athletics Cross Country Champion­ships with large competitor numbers proving an obvious increase in the popularity of the sport.

Getting around the golf course at Dale usually involves a fairly leisure­ly stroll, but that will all change when the first Shetland Cross Country athletics champion­ships are staged there on Sunday 7th March.

Saturday saw six of Shetland’s athletes competing in the first Highland, Island and Grampian Indoor Athletics Championship in the Aberdeen Sports Village, taking home three gold, three silver and two bronze medals in the process.

Shetland’s cross country athletes suc­cessfully got the 2009/2010 season’s competition under way when they travelled to Loch Ness golf course in Inverness for the North District championships.

Jordan Morrison, 16, has become the latest young Shetland athlete to be selected to represent Scotland – he will be throwing the javelin in the UK School Games in Cardiff next month.

Pupils from four schools around Shetland came down to Clickimin on Friday for the isles’ county sports day.

The secondary 2-4 athletes from Aith Junior High School, Brae High School, Sand­wick Junior High School and Anderson High School endured scorching conditions while com­peting in a range of events including sprints, 1,500 metres, javelin and long…

Paul Woods reports on the Simmer Dim Half Marathon, run in glorious sunshine on Sunday.

Two of Shetland’s most talented athletes shone through at the Scottish Schools Athletics Championships in Grangemouth at the weekend.

Shetlands athletes are beginning to show the benefits of a hard winter’s training with a number of perform­ances that place high in the 2009 Scottish rankings.

It was a special day in the South Mainland on Friday with its first-ever Up-Helly-A’ festival proving a roaring success.

WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SHETLAND

Friday, 12 March 2010 at 10:42

HEADLINES

TODAY: SCATTERED SHOWERS, COOL NW’LY WIND
TONIGHT: LITTLE CHANGE
TOMORROW: SCATTERED SHOWERS, BREEZY
DAYS 2-5: SOME RAIN OR SHOWERS, LIGHTER WINDS
DAYS 6-10: RAIN OR SHOWERS

Firms in Shetland are facing huge rate rises – some by as much as two-thirds – under the Scottish government’s revaluation of business property which will come into force at the beginning of next month.