The Pepsi Challenge
13-May-06, 01:42
I was back in Caithness recently. The weather was fantastic, it was nice bumping into old friends, and, for once, I found myself with plenty to see and do in the Motherland. There was also apparently a high profile, international surfing competition on. T'was news to me.
I didn't see any banners saying "Caithness Welcomes Surfers", there wasn't anything major written about it in the local press - a colour piece on the sign posts at John O' Groats being stolen took up the entire front page (eh?) - and the "vibe" was fairly muted.
Then people started telling me that the O' Neill Open competition was a major success. That a worldwide audience was tuning in. That there was something worthwhile to come to Caithness for. Brilliant, I thought; but where was the support of the local council, the press, the bars? Can't see I saw much.
Anyway, for your benefit, my colleague, Roger Cox, was also in town to see the surfing competiton, and has written about it here - http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/magazine.cfm?id=697422006 - in today's Scotsman.
As Roger rightly says in the piece, this is a big event that should (will) come back next year. Let's give the surfers a proper Caithness welcome next time.
From what I can tell, they (the surfing community) did more for tourism in the county than a lot of other people I could mention. Well done to all those who took part, supported, and worked tirelessly to put Caithness back on the map. You deserve great credit. I look forward to taking in the event next year. And hey, who knows, perhaps we'll see a banner welcoming the surfers stretched across Thurso precinct this time. Won't we?
I didn't see any banners saying "Caithness Welcomes Surfers", there wasn't anything major written about it in the local press - a colour piece on the sign posts at John O' Groats being stolen took up the entire front page (eh?) - and the "vibe" was fairly muted.
Then people started telling me that the O' Neill Open competition was a major success. That a worldwide audience was tuning in. That there was something worthwhile to come to Caithness for. Brilliant, I thought; but where was the support of the local council, the press, the bars? Can't see I saw much.
Anyway, for your benefit, my colleague, Roger Cox, was also in town to see the surfing competiton, and has written about it here - http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/magazine.cfm?id=697422006 - in today's Scotsman.
As Roger rightly says in the piece, this is a big event that should (will) come back next year. Let's give the surfers a proper Caithness welcome next time.
From what I can tell, they (the surfing community) did more for tourism in the county than a lot of other people I could mention. Well done to all those who took part, supported, and worked tirelessly to put Caithness back on the map. You deserve great credit. I look forward to taking in the event next year. And hey, who knows, perhaps we'll see a banner welcoming the surfers stretched across Thurso precinct this time. Won't we?