Pieter brings the boom at Mull Highland Games

"The grandstand is the magic of the games," said Sir Lachlan MacLean, the games’ hereditary Chieftain. 

"Tobermory is a special, properly local games, and they’ve been a very good crowd. 

"It’s lovely to see so many people here, and so many competitors for the heavies, and of course for the Cheiftain’s Race."

This year’s Chieftains race was a close fought contest between two of the area’s best athletes. Running two laps around the golf course with only around a minute between them, Oban’s Ewan Dowd and Tobermory’s Caleb Nonhebel burst out at the front of the pack from the gun. But it was Dowd who claimed the win. 

"Malcolm ran the Cheiftain’s Race a few times when he was younger, but he wasn’t anywhere near as good as them," Sir Lachlan jested of his son. 

What really impressed, however, was the adorable children’s races. As the tots ran their race, laughter came out as the boys all carried on after the line, running off towards the woods with their parents chasing them down. 

The girls then did the opposite, as parents lined up to catch their little ones on the line, most of them stopped before stopping. "That’s what it’s all about," Sir Lachlan chuckled. 

Watch all of the day’s action below.

Coming to the end of the day, big scores had alluded the competitors. Long Jumper Tony Daffron came agonisingly close to breaking the games record, and repeated the feat in the triple jump. 

There were some close calls in the hammers, with the hammer landing about two metres from the crowd on two occasions. 

But as the heavens opened during the caber toss, many spectators decided to call it quits, and make their way back to the ferry. 

However, they would live to regret that, as during the day’s finale, the weight over the bar, Pieter Bouma effortlessly smashed the grounds current record. Only joining the fray when all his competitors fell, Bouma stepped up to take the record Vlad Tulacek, who beat him to the caber title this year in Inveraray, set in 2024 of 16ft 9 inches. 

He had only taken one throw before this, as the bar hit 16ft 10, encouragement came flowing out of the crowd, and with what looked like no effort at all, the weight absolutely sailed over the bar.

Bouma said: "It’s very great, it’s only the second throw in this event so I kept my energy, but I’m very happy with it. I had belief I could do it."

Bouma has a few more games on the circuit this year, including Durness and Halkirk, before he flies to California for the World Championships.

Asked if more records were coming, he smirked and said: "You never know."