INVERNESS HAS been chosen as the venue for next year’s Highland Games Masters World Championships.

Confirmation has been received by Highland Council from the board of Scottish Masters Athletics International in the USA, who voted unanimously to stage the event in the Highlands as part of the City of Inverness Highland Games in July.

SMAI official Bill Scuggs revealed that the board was very excited about holding the championships in Inverness and thanked the council for putting together such a “thorough and quality proposal.”

Following the success of last month’s bid to secure the World Highland Games heavy championships for the city in 2007, hosting the Masters will give the Inverness Games the unique honour of being the first games in the world chosen to stage both world championships in consecutive years.