Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

GALLERY: Big crowds attracted to the Tomintoul and Strathavon Highland Games

Murdo Masterton on the Heavy Hammer.
Picture by Jason Hedges.
Murdo Masterton on the Heavy Hammer. Picture by Jason Hedges.

There are few things more glorious than celebrating Scotland’s rich heritage at high summer.

And that helped explain the large crowds who flocked to the 177th Tomintoul and Strathavon Highland Games on Saturday.

About 3500 people streamed through the gates of the Public Park in the south of Tomintoul to enjoy a hectic – but meticulously-planned – schedule of traditional Scottish sport, music and dancing.

Chieftain of the games Jim Fraser opened proceedings with a stirring speech, welcoming everyone and thanking the sponsors and patrons of the event.

There was a special mention for a long-standing games supporter John Lowe, who died last Thursday.

Spectators were then treated to a very traditional day, with the organisers of the Tomintoul Games priding themselves on their no-frills approach to staging the event.

The annual pillow fighting competition was one of the highlights, as contestants battered each other with padded sacks to decide an overall champion.

Other good-spirited contests included a barrel-rolling race and a team tug-of-war tournament.

Sports were the main focal point for the enthusiastic crowd as the strength events proved to be very popular.

In the junior events, Oban’s Murdo Masterson continued his dominance from last year over the rest of the field.

The 19-year-old, whose dad used to be a shot-putter, won four of the five events he entered, including the caber tossing and hurling a 28lb weight the furthest.

A new Tomintoul games record was set in the long jump, by Ewen Bradley of Inverness.

Most aspects of Scottish culture were covered at the gathering, with Highland dancing displays and pipe band performances also taking prominence.

Patricia Grant, secretary of the games thought that the event definitely punched above its weight considering the size of it.

She said: “We are a very small games, but we still manage to attract some very good competitors. A lot of the games pay out much more than we do, but we still manage to bring in a big crowd and exciting competitions.”

Mrs Grant is already looking forward to next year’s festivities.

She said: “It was a great day with a good atmosphere and we’re looking forward to next year.

“The committee would also like to thank all those who helped out on the day, as their help was invaluable to us.”