Inverness champion

David Joel is the club champion at Inverness Golf Club for a second time after defeating six-time winner Graeme Daun in the 36-hole final.

Joel was four up after 18 holes and won the match by chipping in at the 33rd hole to win 4 and 3. Daun’s disappointment was eased by the success of his son, Calum, in becoming junior scratch champion with a 4 and 2 victory against Ethan Ramsay. Fraserburgh fisherman Keith Buchan celebrated his 43rd birthday in style by scoring a runaway victory in the Masson Glennie half marathon at yesterday’s Peterhead running festival.

A ferocious wind buffeted the Blue Toon as the runners set off on their 13.1mile journey and it was plain to see that this wasn’t going to be a day for recordbreaking performances.

Buchan, however, is well used to climatic extremities and was in no mood to allow the weather to influence his race strategy.

He burst into the lead from the gun and within the opening 400m was already pulling well clear of the rest of the field.

The Broch athlete was unchallenged from that point onwards and went on to win by a clear margin, recording 1hr 18min 49sec, which was only 31sec slower than his winning time in 2016.

Buchan said: “It was torture throughout the first half of the race running into the wind, but I decided to push on in any case.

“I put in a few quick miles and no one came with me. I wanted to build up a bit of a lead as I have been bothered by a calf problem recently and thought that if I had to slow down, then hopefully I’d have enough of an advantage

“I expected some other runners to be here to give me a good race”

to hold on. I was keeping my fingers crossed that I’d be all right and it was generally fine.

“It was a lot easier on the return half of the route, with the wind behind, so all in all I was happy with the outcome.

“I expected some other runners to be here to give me a good race – and I would have welcomed that