It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…
Some heavy showers in the days leading up to race day made for a boggy course this year. Undetered, nearly 50 entrants from Prime Four joined the thousands who turned up for another challenging, yet exciting, Beast Race. A revamp of the course each year keeps participants on their toes and this year was no different with some added extras to current obstacles, along with some new ones.
Congratulations and Well done to everyone who took part.
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Armed with big smiles and passion, entrants ran, crawled and dragged their way over muddy obstacles, crossed a giant A-frame wall and faced blasts from ice-cold jets in the beautiful setting of Knockburn Loch, Banchory. Brave participants battled through thick, chest-deep swamps and threw themselves down a giant water slide as part of the Beast Race, held on Saturday 25th September.
The hugely popular 10k course features a total of 30 different obstacles to challenge the participants’ strength, endurance and ability to withstand mud and water. Many workers from Prime Four, along with runners from all over the country, geared up for the brutal competition to raise cash for their charity or just to enjoy the race and test themselves. This years top times were:
1st Male: Ronnie Duncan (00:51:53.463)
2nd Male: Colin Whiteford (00:53:34.531)
3rd Male: Dwayne Batt (00:53:43.857)
1st Female: Julie Menzies (00:56:00.327)
2nd Female: Kym Booth (00:59:01.187)
3rd Female: Jessica Carns (01:01:40.315)
With the sun shining, the scene was set for great racing conditions on Aldourie Castle Estate, Loch Ness, With it’s highest entries to date at this location, runners from across the Highlands turned out in force for the gruelling 10k obstacle event’s return on Saturday 28th August.
Brave entrants ran, crawled and dragged their way over muddy obstacles including crossing a chest-deep swamp, a giant A-frame wall and being blasted with ice cold jets. They contended freezing loch water and threw themselves down a giant water slide as part of the physically demanding course. There are 27 different obstacles in total around the Beast race to test runners’ endurance and strength. The top male race time was achieved by Ricci Carrino at an astonishing time of 51 minutes 21 seconds, while the top female time was set by Kata Markus at 1 hour 3 minute
Whilst some took part as a personal challenge, many took on the challenge to raise for funds for charity. The nominated charity for the event is Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS).
Hayley Simpson, fundraising manger at CHSS said: “What an incredible day we had at the Beast Race. The weather was glorious with the sun shining all day. Our amazing supporters tackled the course with enormous enthusiasm. It was such a great atmosphere.”
“Thank you to everyone who joined us it was great to see people in-person again. Raising funds for us that we are able to make sure that people living in Scotland get the support they really need when they return home from hospital. Every penny raised will make sure that people can do more than survive.”
Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland provide vital services to support people and their families who are living with effects of serious chest and heart conditions and stroke. These services include rehabilitation support, specialist nurses, community groups, advice and information.
From Monday 19th April 2021 Service X17 connecting Aberdeen city with Prime Four Business Park, Kingswells P&R and Westhill will be replaced with services 4, 5 and 6. This change formed part of the public consultation held by Stagecoach in February 2020, but the introduction of the revised service was postponed due to the impact of the pandemic. Customers across the route will benefit from direct access to the city as well as journeys up to every 10 minutes from Kingswells P&R. Residents in the expanding Countesswells development continue to welcome frequent services to the city after the service was upgraded earlier this year from the previous shuttle to Kingswells P&R.
Peter Knight, managing director at Stagecoach Bluebird said: “We’re looking forward to increasing the number of local bus connections from next week. Our fantastic team have kept services operating right through the pandemic with social distancing on board and additional touch point cleaning taking place. This will remain the case from the 19th April for those who need to use our services.”
“As the vaccination programme continues at pace and as more of the country starts to open up in line with the latest advice from the Scottish Government, we’d like to thank our customers for their support and co-operation over the past year.”
In line with the advice from the country’s health advisors, when travelling on public transport everyone should continue to follow the rules around wearing face coverings for the full duration of the journey, washing/sanitising hands before and after travel and maintaining social distancing.
Other Covid-19 secure measures put in place by Stagecoach include the Busy Bus feature on the free Stagecoach app helping customers travel at quieter times, contactless payment facilities on board every bus and regular touchpoint cleaning.
All the timetables from 19th April are available to download now
A major road has re-opened in Aberdeen today following nearly 14 weeks of closure and diversions. The route connecting the new housing development at Countesswells with the existing Kingswells Roundabout has been upgraded and widened to offer improved access for road users.
It is hoped the project – which involved building a new section of road leading to the Kingswells roundabout – will lead to improved links between the new community and the rest of the city.
Combined with improvements to the existing Cults-Kingshill road, the route will provide a “fit-for-purpose” link to Countesswells.
Ryan Swan, project manager at Countesswells Development Limited, said: “We are thrilled to announce the opening of the new road which offers first class connectivity for the residents of Countesswells ahead of schedule. This is a significant parcel of works and, now completed, will deliver much-needed improvements to safety and traffic flow, not just for the community of Countesswells, but for all road users.
“The new road layout demonstrates our commitment to existing and future residents of Countesswells, as well as the wider community.”
Mr Swan continued: “We have worked closely with Aberdeen City Council and our contractors WM Donald to ensure that, where possible, disruption has been minimised and works completed on programme, enabling the road to open in time for the Christmas break.”
During the Christmas and New Year period, Stagecoach will keep you connected with their festive timetables operating between 21st December and 5th January 2021 with exceptions on 25th December and 1st January 2021. Long distance services in Aberdeenshire and Moray to Aberdeen will be operating on Boxing Day for customers who need to travel, along with essential city services in Aberdeen such as the 59 to ARI and Jet 727 to Aberdeen Airport.
Peter Knight, Managing Director for Stagecoach Bluebird said: “This year hasn’t been without its challenges, however, I’m really pleased that families will be able to get together over Christmas. We are proud to play a part in keeping our communities across Aberdeenshire & Moray connected and support our customers travel needs during the festive season. The safety of our customers and employees is our priority so we would like to thank everyone for following government guidance when travelling with us. All of our safety measures will continue to be in place but we would like to remind everyone that services may be busier than normal and to plan your journey ahead of time.
I’m very appreciative to everyone at Bluebird for their amazing contribution and commitment during such uncertain times, the team have been working hard to keep our customers journey a smooth and safe one. I would like to thank in advance all my colleagues who will be working to keep people connected over Christmas. We would also like to wish our customers a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2021.”
Advice for customers…
Plan before you travel and avoid busy times and routes
Use contactless to pay for your journey wherever you can
Wear a face covering throughout your journey
If you feel unwell or have any Coronavirus symptoms, please do not use public transport
Festive bus timetables are now available to download online at stagecoachbus.com
Following the success of last year’s C-Fine food bank donations by the businesses operating within Prime Four, food bins were due to be introduced again from April 2020, on a rota basis, for the rest of the year. Given the current situation however, this has had to be postponed until further notice. Many families and individuals in the North East rely on help from C-Fine anyway and the Coronavirus outbreak has affected foodbank stocks, causing a severe shortage of basic food and non-food goods. The number of people in need of support has increased due to job losses as a result of the Pandemic. This ongoing situation means it is more important than ever that we help protect the most vulnerable members of our community. Demand for support will increase in the coming weeks. So, what can we do to help? We have created a Prime Four Fundraiser Page in order for cash donations to be made easily, and help us to see how we are contributing to C-Fine’s efforts. Your donations will allow the charity to purchase food and essential personal items which can then be distributed to those who most require it. What can your donation do?
For more information on C-Fine, please click here.
We have set a target to raise £4,000 over the coming months. We have in excess of 2,000 people working at Prime Four, a donation of £2.00 each would make a huge difference to those in need of help. Please give generously. Thank you in advance for your support.
The Prime Four Management
Stagecoach have released a statement regarding changes to current bus schedules. Please note – the Prime Four loop will not be included while the temporary timetables are in force. Timetables are all available to download here.
Unfortunately due to the escalating COVID-19 situation, and in order to keep in line with Government guidelines, we will not be allowing any visitors in to the Prime Four Management Suite, with immediate effect. Therefore all fitness classes are cancelled until further notice.
