THE Stirling Highland Games Committee has decided to cancel this year's event due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The 2020 Stirling Highland Games were due to take place on Saturday, August 15.

Organisers wanted to be ready to deliver the event, had the Scottish Government given the green light to large gatherings going ahead later in the year.

However, a release from organisers said: "This doesn’t look likely now and we appreciate this will be disappointing news for many but as we move into another three weeks of lockdown the committee felt now was the right time to cancel as the future safety of our communities, visitors, competitors and officials are of paramount importance to us."

Matt McGrandles, President of Stirling Highland Games, said: “I think I speak on behalf of all the committee when I say it has been a very hard decision to make, not least because it was our 150-year anniversary event.

"We had a number of ideas coming to fruition this year we had hoped to share with everyone. 

"We will now take some time to reflect and consider how we announce these over the next few months.

"In the interim where we had hoped the event might go ahead, we still find ourselves in a state of uncertainty so the main highland games event will now be cancelled as we join others in the fight against this global pandemic and to suppress the virus.”

All stakeholders will be contacted over the next few weeks by the committee or organisers of the event.

The release added: "We are committed to all our ticket holders who have bought their tickets online in advance and these will automatically transfer to next year’s event on Saturday, August 21 [2021] when we hope you can join us.

"If you have any queries or have not been contacted by us before the end of May please email us on office@stirlinghighlandgames.com."