The organisers of the Forres Highland Games have launched ticket sales as they were getting numerous enquiries from people travelling to Forres from abroad. 

Messages were being sent to the event’s Facebook page and directly to the treasurer Alistair Stewart, from people keen to book the Games which will this year take place on Saturday, July 5. 

“This is certainly the earliest we have ever had them on sale,” said Alistair, “but with so many people enquiring about booking, it made sense to get them on sale. 

“So far, we have sold tickets from people travelling from America, Belgium, Canada, Germany, France and Italy. It is always an international affair, but we seem to have been getting enquiries about the event since the last one.”

The Forres Highland Games which are now in their 97th year is a popular event with both locals and visitors alike. Until the end of May, there are early-bird tickets available at a reduced rate. 

Last year, the event attracted an audience of thousands and was even featured in a French documentary Voyage au Bout de L’effort, and streamed on popular French channel Canal+.

Games president, Fred Davidson said: “It is wonderful to see tickets for our event already selling and at the moment, it’s to a predominantly international audience. The Forres Highland Games attracts thousands of spectators and its common to have people from across the world. We love to have them and to give them a really authentic Games Day experience.”

The Forres Highland Games are steeped in history and the programme will include track and field events, the 10K road race, Highland dancing, piping and field events such as tossing the caber and the hammer throw. 

A recent introduction has been the solo drumming competition which will return for 2025 and one of the most popular spectacles is the massed pipe bands.

Last year, the Forres Highland Games successfully introduced four ladies’ heavies events and this year, the caber toss will be added too that. 

Unique to the Forres Highland Games is the message boys bike race where spectators can become competitors.

There are also opportunities for businesses to get involved in the event with stalls and sponsorship available. 

“With thousands of people attending the event, the Games are the perfect opportunity to promote your businesses with a stall or through one of our sponsorship packages,” explained Fred. “The Games is run purely by volunteers, and income from these revenue streams is vital to the Games being staged year on year. The sponsorship packages start from as little as £70 and range from sponsoring an event or even one of the popular message bikes, to having an arena banner which we can display year on year.”