Yesterday was the Inverness Half Marathon. I went and covered it on spec, sending pics off to the papers regularly throughout the day, and staying right to the end to get pics of the 1st-place man and woman, along with plenty of info about both of them. Did a solid afternoon's work that I was very happy with.

Sadly our national papers have a reputation for not caring about the Highlands unless it's bad news, and they haven't done anything to change that reputation today. Despite over 1,100 people taking part in this race, and hundreds more turning up to watch, every single one of the national papers decided that nobody would be interested in reading about the race or seeing photos from it.

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Sunday 14 March 2010: The start of the Inverness Half Marathon was signalled by members of the 105th Regiment Royal Artillery (volunteers) 212 (Highland) Battery E Troop from Arbroath, using a 105mm L118 lightgun.

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Sunday 14 March 2010: Pictured are the 1st-place male and female runners in the Inverness Half Marathon. First male with a finishing time of 1h:8m:3s was 31-year-old Ben Livesey, a Nimrod navigator based at RAF Kinloss. Ben first ran and won the Inverness Half Marathon in 2006. He finished in 2nd place for the next three years, so this year he has reclaimed his crown. (Ben Livesey tel: *****) First female with a finishing time of 1h:20m:9s was 46-year-old Melissa Whyte, a staff nurse at Raigmore Hospital. This was Melissa's first time competing in the Inverness Half Marathon, although in 2009 she finished first in all three of a series of 10K races in Nairn, Elgin and Forres. She also took 1st place in another 10K race in Nairn last week. Her family is now encouraging her to take part in the London Marathon. (Melissa Whyte tel: *****)