Halkirk Utd vs Clachnacuddin

Halkirk Utd lost 3-2 to Inverness Clachnacuddin in the Jock Mackay Memorial cup match at the Recreation Park today. Clach scored after 5 mins and Alan Larnach equalised late in the first half.

Clach scored two mid-way through the 2nd half, with Halkirk keeper Graeme Williamson uncharacteristically gifting the third goal, by letting a weak low shot slip his grasp and in through his legs. Chris Sutherland scored in injury time with a penalty.

Halkirk had good chances throughout the game, but lacked the killer touch in front of goal. Clach seemed hungrier to win the game. This is Halkirk's 2nd defeat of the season (both cup matches).

Loch More dam

Loch More dam this afternoon.

Thurso River Kayakers

There was no sport to capture on Saturday due to waterlogged pitches. However, today I snapped three kayakers practicing on the Thurso river rapids at Halkirk.

Sports Photographer of the Year Award

My winning pic in the motor sport category



My runner-up pic in the general sport category

 The Societies' held their annual photographer of the year awards in London last Sunday at a glittering prize dinner (I couldn't make it down) and I'm delighted to learn that I won the Sports Photographer of the Year award in the motor sports category. The pic is of local rider Iain Nicolson in action during the Caithness Motocross summer series (in June) at a very dry Ravenshill course, Forss, by Thurso. It is very rare to get a photo with so much dust flying around.

I was also a runner-up in the general sports category with a surfing shot taken during the O'Neill Cold Water Classic event at Thurso East in April.

The many thousands of entriess are from all over the world, so it is great to see sporting action in Caithness grabbing the limelight.  The link to the announcement is;

http://www.swpp.co.uk/convention/photographic_competition_11/sport_motor.htm

Scrabster Harbour at Night

Went down to Scrabster harbour tonight with members of Thurso Camera Club. The noisy piling stopped just after we arrived at around 7.50pm.

Caithness RFC vs Orkney



Stevie Campbell breaks through the Orkney defence to score a try





Evan Sutherland scores a late try in the corner

Caithness comfortably beat Orkney 38-3 at a muddy Millbank today. With 5 tries, a much needed bonus point was gained for their march up the table from 2nd bottom place.

Halkirk Utd vs Dingwall Thistle

I caught most of the first half of the Halkirk vs Dingwall Thistle league match at the Recreation Park today in glorious sunshine. Halkirk never got going and really struggled in the first half, but held onto 0-0 at the half-time whistle. The only excitement was when Halkirk goalie Graeme Williamson caught a runaway dog!

The Anglers scored 3 goals in the 2nd half (Alan Larnach, Chris Sutherland and Martin Banks) without a reply.

The other scores were;

Clach 1 vs  0 Alness
Muir of Ord Rovers 3 v 1 Balintore
Golspie v Thurso match off due to frozen pitch

I travelled to Thurso to catch the Caithness RFC match vs Orkney. The Greens were easy winners by 38 points to 3 and gained a bonus point for 5 tries. Pics later.

Shortlisted for Sports Photographer of the Year

The Societies are holding their annual Photographer of the Year awards in London next Sunday night and I have been shortlisted for two of the three sports categories - General and Motors - see above pics.

I'm very tempted to travel to London for the weekend, but will not be able to make it.

Thurso vs Halkirk Utd



No. 11 Marc MacGregor is congratulated on scoring Thurso's equaliser





Martin Banks watches his header hit the back of the net for Halkirk's 3rd goal




Happy bunnies after scoring the 3rd




Martin Banks shoots to score his 2nd and Halkirk's 4th



Halkirk Utd beat Thurso 4-1 at a very wet and windy Dammies today. Grant MacNab scored first for Halkirk and Marc MacGregor equalised. Jack Halliday scored from a very suspicious offside position to put Halkirk in front just before the break. Thurso had most of the play in the second half (playing with the strong wind) but could not score. Sub Martin Banks scored two brilliant goals late in the game to secure the points.

Thurso's Lee Elder was sent off mid-way through the 2nd half for a headbutt aimed at Nigel MacKenzie (who was booked). Grant MacNab had to be carried off after a nasty ankle injury. The pitch was surprisingly firm, but it was still heavy going and very slippery for the players. There were a few very wintery showers throughout the match (I got soaked) and the crowd wasn't as large as expected - probably as most thought the game was postponed.