Sport – Curious Bystander

Mallorca 2025- Part 2 – Let’s watch some ATP Tennis –

What ever you think about sports in general, I still find it exhilarating to watch them live. Even sports that I may not care a huge amount about, for example football, baseball, rugby, etc.

In this case, it’s professional tennis which I am actually a big fan of. The ATP tournament in Mallorca, Spain has been around only a few years, but is one of those smaller tournaments on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) tour. In this case it’s a 250 (points)* event.

So it’s small, but this can yield many advantages besides the price; it’s normally easier to find tickets, easier to find somewhere to stay and in my opinion, it’s friendlier.

This year was no different, and as the last grass court warmup before Wimbledon, it’s always so interesting to see just who shows up. Only in 2021, Novak Djokovic himself was here to play the doubles, as the Russian Daniil Medvedev was the winner. Equally last year and this, the young and highly rated American, Ben Shelton, was here. He later made the Wimbledon quarter-finals, losing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner.

The point being, is there are some “stars” here, but that would miss the point. The tournament still has world class tennis, nice food and at 20 Euros a ticket for the entire day, is far cheaper than Wimbledon!

_{What a view (above)}

Conceivably, it could be cheaper to come here to watch the grass court tennis, than going to London, to watch the tennis at Wimbledon, particularly if you take into account travel, hotels and food in London.

I’ll be back.

* ^{Tournaments in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) range from 250 points, to 500 points; with the Master tournaments being worth 1,000 points. The major tournaments (Wimbledon, etc) are worth 2,000 points to the winners.}

Parkrun 2025 – Running, Cake, and Community: A Parkrun in the Highlands

It’s funny—after doing around 20 Parkruns at different courses, I’ve noticed the same mix of fanatics and lunatics (myself included) who keep showing up. And honestly, I feel proud of my progress. My time has dropped from 42 minutes to about 34. Whoa! Maybe the Olympics next year?

This time, I ran in Faskally Forest, in the Scottish Highlands, just north of Pitlochry. It’s always a great crowd. A couple of weeks ago, someone had a birthday, so naturally, they brought cake. The week before that, it was the 100th, 200th, or 400th run here; so—of course—more cake. Parkrun is very sociable like that, and it tends to get rid of my natural cynicism.

After the run, a group of us (anywhere from 10 to 30 people) headed to The Red Deer Restaurant at Pitlochry Golf Club. It’s always a good time—warm drinks, food, and conversation.

Living in a smaller community like here means you often have to create your own fun—whether it’s a Polish school, a repair café, or a weekly run like this. There’s always something happening, even midweek, which is great to see.

Parkrun itself is a relatively young idea—maybe 10 or 15 years old? The founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, was recently interviewed on the BBC. I can’t remember all the details, but he basically started that it is a casual, inclusive event where people could run or walk, with their dogs, kids, or friends. There’s even a designated tail walker to make sure no one finishes last alone.

A Small Community Creating Its Own Fun

Many people come not to set records but simply to challenge themselves and socialise. However, as with any grassroots movement, Parkrun is growing, and I’ve been getting more emails about its future in my inbox recently; whether advertising goods, or noting that they need both more volunteers and donations.

A shot of Pitlochry Golf Club

The Red Deer Restaurant, Pitlochry

The Big Question: Can It Stay Free Forever?

Even though parkrun has sponsors, each event still relies on 10 to 15 volunteers every week. Recently, the Glasgow event struggled to get enough helpers, which made me think—I should probably put my name down to volunteer soon.

But the bigger question is: how long can parkrun stay free? At some point, despite sponsorship, will they need to introduce a £5 or £10 yearly subscription? We’ll see what happens when that day comes.

For now, I’ll keep running—and, hopefully, keep eating cake afterward.

Yes, you can ski in Scotland – A trip to The Lecht ski resort, Aberdeenshire

Since living in Scotland the last few decades, I’ve only been skiing two or three times, the last at the Glenshee Ski area in north Scotland. The snow was a bit wet in late March, but the skiing at the top was perfect and it was sunny.

Ditto that for a recent trip this month to The Lecht ski area in northeast Scotland. Whilst I am still recovering from a recent illness, the other half took full advantage of the conditions (and it seemed that EVERYONE in Aberdeenshire also did!); the place was packed!

The conditions were sunny, slightly windy, with a temperature of about 0 – 2 degrees – perfect.

I stayed predominantly in the café; a typical, dreadful one, with the usual suspects of food – stale sandwiches, God-awful chips, and something that looked like chili? And with a side order of a queue of 30 minutes, as there were only about two people serving & cleaning, I had an awful time. Though when I finally found a seat with my egg sandwich, I was just fine.

As I get annoyed just so quickly nowadays, I noticed the typical behaviour of dreadful families, who only consisted of two or three, who were not only hogging a table for eight, but had also brought their own food! I naturally was furious; but PLEASE patrol this Lecht staff, as it is completely not on!

With more snow falling in north Scotland whilst I write, who knows, maybe in the next week or two, I’ll do some sliding.

This Week – More on trips to Portugal, cafe’s, the Highlands, but first, I went to Wimbledon

Every now and then, I get lucky, and several years ago I did. We received some tickets to the Men’s Final at Wimbledon, and then were, very kindly, allowed to defer them until this year (Hello Covid, etc).

I’ll show more later this week, but will always remember seeing Nick Kyrgios in his first major final.