{"id":4516,"date":"2013-02-16T21:02:58","date_gmt":"2013-02-16T21:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bletherskite.net\/?p=4516"},"modified":"2013-02-16T21:02:58","modified_gmt":"2013-02-16T21:02:58","slug":"hanging-up-the-haggis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/?p=4516","title":{"rendered":"Hanging up the Haggis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bletherskite.net\/2013\/02\/16\/hanging-up-the-haggis\/haggishurler\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4517\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4517\" alt=\"Haggis+Hurler\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bletherskite.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Haggis+Hurler-300x199.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a>THE world&#8217;s top haggis hurler Alan Pettigrew has announced he is to quit before his 29 year old record is broken.<\/p>\n<p>His world record was set in 1984 when he threw a 1lb 8oz haggis 180ft and 10in on the island of Inchmurrin on Loch Lomond.<\/p>\n<p>But the retired school janitor, from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, fears he may see his long-standing record being beaten.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8220;People are trying to beat my record all the time, all over the world, but my competitive days are over.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Alan was at the Bearsden and Milngavie Highland Games in 2011 when Lorne Colthart, 22, appeared to smash the record.<\/p>\n<p>But officials realised that Lorne&#8217;s 217ft throw was invalid because the haggis was 4oz less than the regulation weight of 1lb 8oz.<\/p>\n<p>Lorne, from Blair Atholl, Perthshire, is tipped as a likely record-breaker.<\/p>\n<p>Alan said: &#8220;An official came over and told me that my world record had been broken. Then he came back and said the haggis wasn&#8217;t heavy enough so my record still stands.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Lorne returned to the same games last year and threw a haggis of the correct weight and it only went something like 160ft.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But Lorne&#8217;s a good athlete who takes part in the heavy sports at Highland games across the country and I think, if he sets his mind to it, he \u2013 or someone else \u2013 could break my record for real.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Today, Alan&#8217;s record will be in the sights of competitors taking part in the haggis hurling event at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, Ayrshire.<\/p>\n<p>Event organiser Stuart Cochrane said: &#8220;We are hoping that some stout lads and lassies will come along and try to make history as part of our celebrations for Burns&#8217; birthday.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Haggis hurling is also played at Highland games across the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE world&#8217;s top haggis hurler Alan Pettigrew has announced he is to quit before his 29 year old record is broken. His world record was set in 1984 when he threw a 1lb 8oz haggis 180ft and 10in on the island of Inchmurrin on Loch Lomond. But the retired school janitor, from Saltcoats, Ayrshire, fears [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[717],"class_list":["post-4516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scottish_jokes","tag-haggis"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project1-m9gb2xku8.live-website.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}