Fish workers club together for cancer golf challenge
GOLFERS from two fish businesses pulled together to take on a gruelling four-rounds-in-one-day test in Kintyre.
Two teams of four colleagues from the Scottish Salmon Company and AKVA aquaculture group took on the Macmillan Cancer Research nationwide longest day golf challenge.
The sponsored test asked golfers to take on four 18 hole rounds on the longest day of the year, which fell on Monday this week.
Four members of Tarbert Golf Club – Keith McTaggart, Donnie Sinclair, Christopher Smyth and Cammie Gibb – joined forces with four golfers from AKVA – Andy Whyte, Stuart Gordon, Robbie Duncanson and Andy Lynn – to raise money for the cancer charity.
The AKVA contin- gent travelled from Inverness on Sunday night, arriving at 10pm and stayed in Lochgilphead before heading down to Campbeltown at 3am to tackle Machrihanish Dunes, teeing off at 4.30am.
They then moved on to Machrihanish, before heading east to Carradale and then finishing up their challenge in Tarbert for the final round.
Keith McTaggart, one of the Tarbert members, said: ‘Some people thought this was just an excuse to play lots of golf, but it’s very different playing all day long compared to one leisurely round.
‘That said, there has been a bit of rivalry and a lot of hilarity, with plenty of banter and laughing at bad shots. The etiquette has not been quite the same as normal.’
The two groups both set up Just-Giving pages, which had already far exceeded their initial targets before they completed the challenge.
Keith said: ‘All the courses have donated the rounds, which is great. We started with a target of £500 each, but before we even started this morning they were both sitting at more than £1000 with many pledging funds after the challenge was completed.
‘We all know people who have been affected by cancer and we are now hoping to do a return leg in Inverness next year.’
Robbie Duncanson, an AKVA worker from Inverness who first suggested the challenge, said: ‘It was a wee bit of a struggle so early this morning but it has been really great for us to get to come down and play these courses and support such a good charity at the same time.
‘The two teams from the two companies split to have two workers in each group of four, and we are all competing against other groups around the UK.
‘The stableford scores will be used and a combination of that and the total sponsorship to determine an overall winner.
‘There has been a bit of rivalry, but we are all working together for a good cause.’