Ian Stark, OBE, Olympic medallist and still heavily involved in the Horse trials and, indeed, horse racing world has designed a new cross country course for Hopetoun House at South Queensferry.  The launch of the Gillespie Macandrew Hopetoun International Horse Trials will take place on 30 and 31 July, the same weekend as the Edinburgh Royal Wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall. Read the rest of this entry »

As the world of cycling set out on a little trip around France in pursuit of a yellow jersey, another cycling event had one pocket of the Scottish cycling set entertained for an evening. The Edinburgh Nocturne came to the cobbled streets of the Grassmarket for the second year, as part of a series of races also staged in London and Brighton.

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Hill Running is a popular sport but when someone organises his life around the dates of his favourite races, you know it’s serious. The Carnethy 5 hill race which has taken place from Penicuik every February since 1970, is a race that attracts that kind of loyalty.

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We’re near West Linton, less than an hour from Edinburgh but deep in a green bowl between Pentland and Border hills. On the edge of the village, in some flat fields by the Lyne, brown and turbulent from recent rain, there are some folk with no eye for the scenery. They’re busy brushing and grooming horses, tacking them up and then launching themselves into the saddle before disappearing into the surrounding countryside clutching map and compass.

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