Fourteen of Shetland’s most talent­ed young athletes attended the Scottish Schools Athletics Championships at the weekend, winning five medals and returning with a string of season’s best performances.

A long-standing Shetland road running record was smashed earlier this month by Arlene Bristow when she competed in the Arbroath Smokies Ladies Only 10 Mile Race.

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.

A former Lerwick optician is suing his estranged wife and erstwhile business partner for more than £800,000, claiming that her actions after they went their separate ways six years ago effectively left him out of work.

New SIC chief executive Alistair Buchan came face to face with all councillors this week for the first time since taking up the post for what he described as “very positive” initial discussions about how to react to major criticisms in the Accounts Commission’s recent report on the local authority.

Multiple Grammy winner Steve Earle, the outspoken singer-song­writer responsible for a host of classic Americana songs including Copperhead Road, Guitar Town and Galway Girl, will be stopping off in Lerwick next Thursday for a re-arranged show at Clickimin.