The missing links

Jonathan Trew, The Scotsman, 6 October 2007

Possible things to do this weekend split pretty clearly between the energetic and the less so. In one corner are those who prefer a more sedentary life enlivened by the occasional quirk. In the other are the nutters who think the best way to cover a distance of several miles is not to get in the car but to run, walk or knock a small, white ball between where you are now and where you want to end up.

Fans of the latter will be making tracks for Fife, where the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship got underway on Thursday. There is some £2.5 million in the prize pool, with £400,000 of them going to the winner. Even the player who trails in 70th picks up a little under £4,500; a sum rumoured to be enough for a round of drinks in some of St Andrews' more golf-oriented establishments.

Popular figures such as Colin Montgomerie and Ernie Els are among the line-up but it wouldn't be a surprise if Padraig Harrington were to receive the biggest cheer if he won. Victory would complete a hat-trick at the event for the Irishman after he took home the prize in 2002 and last year. Spectators have to pay to watch tomorrow's grand finale but today's sport is free.

The views at St Andrews' Old Course, the Championship Course at Carnoustie and Kingsbarns will be spectacular, but they will be given a run for their money by those on offer at another of this weekend's events which is likely to appeal to the bonkers faction: the Loch Ness Marathon. Starting at 10am tomorrow, runners will set off from Whiteridge and hoof it all the way to Queen's Park Stadium in Inverness. The sight of Urquhart Castle on the opposite shore of Loch Ness should encourage weary runners to plough on.

Slightly less energetic but still classed as "unwise" by the official couch potato handbook is the plethora of walking festivals taking place in Scotland this weekend and beyond. Cowalfest is in its fifth year, while the Moffat Walking Festival is in its sixth, as is the Crieff and Strathearn Drovers' Tryst, which has its roots in cattle drovers' markets going back hundreds of years. According to eyewitness reports from the 18th century, locals were "in fear for their lives" as rough Highlanders forcibly billeted themselves on the villagers. These days the local tourist office is on hand to help with accommodation.

The event which might appeal most to the more indolent reader is the annual World Porridge-making Championships which take place tomorrow in Carrbridge. Last year, the Golden Spurtle was won by Army cook, Sgt Coleen Hayward MacLeod, who was in charge of making sure porridge was on the daily breakfast menu for the 300 to 400 troops from the 1st Royal Irish Regiment stationed at Fort George near Inverness. Could the trophy go to a civilian this year? The world waits with baited breath.