DURING the first week of August it appears as if everyone in Inverkeithing knows someone who is involved with the Highland Games.

An integral part of the Lammas Fair celebrations, the Games are kept going by a committee of 18, more than 50 sponsors and 200 patrons, at least 10 people helping during the week before, a further 30 helping on Games Day plus 40 officials and then 10 more folk on Sunday to help clear up.

A total of 345 people in all and this doesn’t include the many wives, husbands, partners, family and friends who do a pile of work, but whose input is not publicly appreciated.

This year’s Games take place on Saturday and have attracted interest from visitors from the USA, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain!

The estimated cost of setting up this one day of traditional sporting, piping and dancing events is approaching £17,000, much of which is raised by individual donations and sponsorship and supplemented by gate money.

Last year the volunteer committee took the bold step of investing an additional £1500 of prize monies in an effort to attract even more bands, athletes and competitors to test their fitness and skills and introduced an additional prize of £50 for the best performing Scottish-domiciled heavyweight athlete.

This opportunity extends our potential advertising and promotional reach and hopefully will attract more visitors to our Games from the world-wide Scottish diaspora, in addition to the usual range of visitors from abroad.

So while the Games may not have just the same allure as the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the Open at St Andrews, they are not lacking in enthusiasm and competition in comparison with their more illustrious sporting counterparts.

Once again, attracting young athletes has been a major theme of this year’s Games and a healthy number of entries have been received for the Tom Oliver Youth Handicap 200 metres and the Jim Murray 90 metres sprints.

There is no doubt this level of interest is sparked by the generous sponsorship provided by the late Tom Oliver’s son, Robert, and daughter Gillian.

Prize money of £180 is up for grabs in the 200 metres event, with £100 for the first under-16 athlete past the post, and entries have been received from across Scotland. For a number of these young athletes, it will be their first time competing at a traditional Highland Games.

A very healthy entry has also been received for the Active Schools Children’s’ Games. These incorporate a relay race, caber-tossing, the shot put and tug o’ war. There is great competition, not only between the children, but between their parents and family, with the children’s’ tug o’ war rivalling the mens’ event for popularity with the crowd. Tailored coaching workshops for the children’s’ Games have been taking place throughout the Spring and early Summer and there will be young competitors to represent a range of Primary Schools from central and south west Fife.

Pipe Bands will once more be prominent at Inverkeithing this year, with entries from about 10 bands received so far. Led by our own Royal Burgh of Inverkeithing Pipe Band, Jim Macdonald enjoys his third year as Games Chieftain, following on from his many years of service on the committee. He is particularly relishing the spectacle of the Grand March of the Bands and Salute to The Chieftain at the end of the Games.

Heavyweight events, ever popular with the crowd, will feature a range of competitors from home and abroad and the Games records of 15 feet, for 56lb weight over the bar, and 106 feet, for 22lb hammer, are at risk as competition is expected to be fierce.

Two separate dancing platforms are going to be required for the Highland Dancing events, to accommodate more than 100 dancers who have entered. Three years ago a new 17 years and under competition was added to the Premier Section range and has proved increasingly popular. In order to ensure that these competitions finish in time for the Grand March of the Bands and Salute to the Chieftain at 5pm, it will begin at 10.30am, a full two hours before the chieftain officially opens the Games!

Cyclists and runners will dominate the track, providing a real spectacle for the crowd.

The stalls, sideshows, displays and local children’s races at 3pm will attract those wanting a break from the serious competition and the many food and drink outlets will be doing a roaring business. The beer tent has its own enclosed viewing area outside the entrance, allowing patrons to enjoy their pint while watching the Games take place.