Sport Archives - Page 3 of 18 - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Sugar the surfur of Huntington Beach

16th July 202516th July 2025 funtime65

And as the drums roll to induct the legends into Surf City’s Hall of Fame let’s paws to celebrate Sugar the surfur of Huntington Beach.

Sugar, a Collie mix, holds a unique position in the surfing world.

As the first, and as yet, only mutt to be enlisted in the Californian town’s Surfing Home of Fame.

Huntington Beach’s status as the centre of the surfing world is assured.

Though maybe not mention that in rival claimant Santa Cruz, who claim they’re the birthplace of the sport.

But all disputes aside, and my friends in SC were keen to play that down.

As they promoted their fares to me at the American Travel Fair in Chicago last month, everyone can sing Sugar’s praises.

Herein hangs a tail

Because as they say in Sugar the Surfing Dog’s case, herein hangs a tail.

And one that in the land of the moving picture ought really to be a Hollywood blockbuster.

Because Sugar, much like Bob in the British true story A Streetcat Named Bob, turned her owner’s life around full circle.

HB native Ryan Rustan had been battling mental health and drug issues.

But he cleaned up in his 20s when Oakland rescue dog Sugar came into his life.

And she went on to wing 19 surfing titles across her career including multiple World Dog Surfing Championships, Surf City Surf Dog and Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge titles.

Because as all you devoted readers here know and I found out one spring morning over breakfast in Ballsbridge, Dublin with our HB visitors dog surfing is definitely a thang.

And on that occasion it was labrador Bono whose achievements we were recognising.

With, of course, me being professionally incapable of avoiding asking if Bono surfed the waves in his shades.

Follow in Sugar’s pawsteps

Chairmutt of the Board: Outside the museum

We do hope that Sugar’s elevation to Hall of Fame status will push on other surfing dogs to follow in her pawsteps.

And we’ll be following Sugar’s progress and our other pooch pals on SURFER website.

Not that 14-year-old Sugar’s surfing days are behind her with Ryan promising his pooch .

That he will take her to Waikiki, the real birthplace of surfing, as a treat.

‘She does a lot of surf therapy for lots of kids,’ he said.

‘It’s not just [about] surfing against people but also putting smiles on the little kids’ faces and the athletes that are disabled. She gets to ride with them.’

Dogg days

This year’s deserving inductees into the Surf City Hall of Fame are world champion and Olympic gold medalist Caroline Marks.

Outstanding surf photographer Tom Servais and HB local standout surfer Dwight Dunn.

All taking their place alongside Sugar the surfur of Huntington Beach.

HB, of course, ought to be on everyone’s to-do list when in Los Angeles, just an hour north of Surf City USA.

And, if you are lucky enough, you might see another famous Dogg down there doing one of his sets.

And you thought I make all this stuff, well here are the pictures to prove it.

Countries, Sport, UK

Orkney’s your topical island

15th July 202515th July 2025 funtime65

Aye, ye read that richt… Orkney your topical island as the draw for aw the ither peedie islands of the world tae show aff their sporting skills.

All of which boils down to the Scottish archipelago off the northernmost bit of the British mainland playing host to the world games of small islands.

That they micht spik funny tae yer English-speaking or Atlantic drawl or Antipodean ear.

Or ither places where the language of Shakespeare has taken hold is yer problem.

Because the Orcadians willnae be changing their dialect which is derived from Ancient Norse for abody.

The best wedding gift

On account of the islanders being Norwegians for nearly 600 years before they were annexed by Scotland along with their sister islands in Shetland further to the north in 1472.

Because the Vikings hadn’t stumped up a dowry payment for Margaret of Denmark promised to James III of Scotland by the family of his bride Margaret of Denmark.

And you’ll learn that here but so much more if you take a dander up to Orkney, ten miles off the northern coast of Caithness.

As Daughterie and her young man did only recently.

While her globetrotting Da is still to, another example of how we all know foreign shores so much better than our own.

Fun and Games

Now 24 countries are participating with more than 2,000 competitors in the NatWest Island Games in Kirkwall.

On Mainland, one of 20 inhabitable islands in the 70 that form Orkney.

Now this is the 20th iteration of the gathering which started on the Isle of Man back in 1985.

Many of the activities you would associate with the bigger international Games are on the programme.

And naturally because we’re dealing with islands here watersports are particularly keenly contested.

Water of life

Packed out: The Games have brought out the crowdsw

The Island Games are of course in miniature to the more celebrated global events.

But they pride themselves on their own individuality.

And despite being only 40 years old the actual islands have been around for thousands of years.

A traditional symbol of the games was started in 1991 when Aland in Finland asked all teams to bring some water from their islands.

They mixed it in a fountain and in all subsequent games water from the previous fountain has added samples of water.

From each island competing in the new games.

All creating a symbol of “mixing together”.

God’s own island

All of which preamble is our attempt at getting you to visit Orkney, your topical island.

And take in its many charms, culinary, cultural and historical.

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae lies near the white beach of the Bay of Skaill.

Uncovered by a storm in 1850, the site presents a remarkable picture of life in Orkney around 5,000 years ago.

Orkney has had its fair share of visitors, and remember that this is a nature-lover’s idyll with puffins a particular favourite.

More surprising might be that it was home to Italian POWs in the Second World War who left their mark.

In The Italian Chapel made out of two Nissen huts.

And transformed into a beautiful house of God by Domenico Chiocchetti and his colleagues.

Worth a prayer you would think for the competitors this week.

Countries, Sport, UK

Open for golf business

11th July 202511th July 2025 funtime65

And as East Lothian’s economy yields £8m from our tourney and the oldest major returns to Portrush, our corners of the planet are officially Open for business.

The Open Golf Championship is certainly a hospitality money-spinner.

With Northern Ireland taking in £100m to the coffers and the Causeway Coast and Glens area directly benefiting with £26m back in 2019.

Probably better not to mention that my friends at Discover Northern Ireland afforded me hospitality six years ago.

And Savannah and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, generously hosted me last year in Royal Troon on the west coast of Scotland.

The home of golf

Now any destination that gets to put on a big sporting event comes with a premium for player and spectator alike.

And I’m always reminded, at this time of the year, of an old work colleague whose parents rented out their home in St Andrews.

The champion golfer’s brothers had approached the couple, who had put their names forward as a rental home.

And asked if they could take it, offering to pay top dollar and putting on a conservatory for them.

All of which paid off when Steve Ballesteros won the Claret Jug.

Up for rent

Timing is, of course, everything and alas our arrival in North Berwick has come at a time when the nearby Muirfield championship course is off the rota.

A course of such a standard and historical significance that the great Jack Nicklaus named his course Muirfield in Ohio after it.

So the opportunity to rent out our own demesne to a Tiger Woods or a Rory McIlroy will have to wait.

The golden ticket

The Open Golf Championship rolls into Royal Birkdale next year and the R&A and golf fans are already preparing themselves.

For us in East Lothian, already putting on a show for the Scottish Open dress-rehearsal for next week’s main event.

We say, haste ye back to Muirfield. We’re Open for golf business.

And if that means we can earn a pound or two on our house for a week and the local economy too then all the better.

Countries, Deals, Europe, Sport

Hungaroaring with F1 specialists Keith Prowse

27th June 202527th June 2025 funtime65

Our Magyar mates have come a long way since Communist Brabants so go Hungaroaring with F1 specialists Keith Prowse.

Formula 1 is the marquee sports watch with a titular film starring Brad Pitt with input from Lewis Hamilton the early summer hit.

And as inclusive an experience as the big screen is there is nothing like seeing the fast cars fly by in front of your eyes.

As a symbol of bougie capitalism and consumerism nothing is quite as va-va-voom as Grand Prix.

So it was a sign, though we might not have seen it then, that Communism was going off the tracks.

When Budapest became the first city behind the Iron Curtain to come over to the other side and host a Grand Prix in 1986.

Motoring Magyars

Although technically it had been at the front of the grid as early as 1936, albeit for three teams of three cars each.

That Bernie Ecclestone’s geopolitical breakthrough came at the expense of Russia.

And that could only have excited ordinary Magyars even more.

All of which has put eyeballs on the magnificent Magyar city on the Danube.

And that gets the thumbs-up from us.

After soaking up Budapest in the spring with loveholidays.

We turn to KP though when it comes to the specialist sports market and you should too.

To access their decades of experience in motorsport hospitality and event travel.

They offer ‘Ticket Only’ and expertly curated ‘Hotel & Ticket Inclusive’ packages.

For every race on the calendar with Hungary always a roaring success with sports tourists.

And the first of the three packages here that KP are offering.

And they’re doing the heavy lifting and we are showcasing.

Hungry for driving

Hungarian Grand Prix – Budapest
Set at the challenging Hungaroring circuit, this is a firm favourite among fans.

Thanks to its technical demands, intense atmosphere and dramatic on-track battles.

Ticket Only: General Admission Weekend tickets from €349pp
Hotel & Ticket Package: 3 nights from Friday 01 August 2025 in a 3* or 4* hotel with General Admission Weekend ticket from €949pps
Upgrades available to Apex 1 or 2, Podium, Paddock Club, and more

Sing for the Grand Prix

Singapore Grand Prix – Marina Bay Street Circuit
F1’s original night race delivers an electric fusion of racing and entertainment in the heart of the city.

With a spectacular backdrop of skyline and sound.

Ticket Only: Zone 4 Walkabout Weekend tickets from €279pp
Hotel & Ticket Package: 3 nights from Friday 03 October 2025 in a 3* hotel with Zone 4 Walkabout Weekend ticket from €582pps
Upgrades available to Marina Bay, Pit Grandstand, Champions Club, Paddock Club and more

Neon lights

Las Vegas Grand Prix – Las Vegas Strip Circuit
An adrenaline-filled night race through the bright lights of the Strip, this Grand Prix combines speed, glamour and the vibrant energy of Neon City.

Ticket Only: Sphere General Admission Weekend tickets from €795pp
Hotel & Ticket Package: 3 nights from Thursday 20 November 2025 in a 3* hotel with Sphere General Admission Weekend ticket from €1130pps
Upgrades available to West Harmon Zone, Sphere Grandstands, Main Grandstand, Skybox Main and more

And KP say that these and many more grand prix destinations and package options are available.

Although we’d get you going with Hungaroaring with F1 specialists Keith Prowse.

Countries, Deals, Europe, Sport

In a pickle you’ll love all these breaks

21st June 2025 funtime65

So if you’re in a pickle about a sporting activity holiday this summer you’ll love all these breaks.

Our interest in pickleball was pricked by the makeshift court in the conference hall of the American travel fair IPW in Chicago.

Complete with classes although anybody who has mastered tennis will take to its easier sister sport.

Tennis ticked after being tutored by no less a figure than Judy Murray in Quinta do Lago in Portugal it must be time for a new skill.

Particularly as it cuts out the most challenging aspect of tennis, the serve, with pickleball players only serving underhand.

Serving up a treat

The offshoot sport which began in the back yards of Washington State in the US is 60 years old this year.

And Solos travel providers have introduced pickleball to their roster.

With a week-long pickleball break in Portugal.

At the site of the Portuguese National Pickleball Championships.

You’ll be assigned a Solos Tour Leader.

And enjoy daily play, from fun morning sessions to extended afternoon matches, all tailored for social and competitive players.

You’ll stay at the four-star Prime Energize Hotel near Monte Gordo Beach.

With spa and wellness facilities, a beach club, and cultural excursions to nearby Tavira, Cacela Velha, and more.

A seven-night Algarve Pickleball trip, departing 1 November, costs £2,269pp on a half board basis with flights.

Anyone for tennis

If you’re old school, Solos, of course, caters handsomely for tennis fans.

With an all-inclusive week at the stylish 4* AP Adriana Beach Resort.

With an adults-only pool, a massage at the on-site spa, or stroll to the beach.

A seven-night Tennis in Western Algarve trip departs on 22 March, 2026, £1,869pp all-inclusive basis with flights.

Advantage Corfu

Evergreen Corfu is a sports nut’s ideal destination with even a cricket pitch in Corfu town.

But it is that other staple of the summer which is our focus here.

And the Grecotel Luxme Daphnila Bay Hotel.

Overlooking Dassia Bay and the Ionian Sea, there is a range of off-court activities.

From mountain biking to pedal boats.

The seven-night Corfu Tennis trip departs on 6 October, costing £1,995pp all-inclusive with flights.

Join our club

Pictures of pickle: And Solos are all over it

While for club level players Solos offers a week in Campo Internacional Maspalomas, Gran Canaria.

Staying at the Kumara Serenoa by Lopesan Hotel, you’ll enjoy five mornings of organised tennis at the Conde Jackson Maspalomas Tennis Club.

And friendly matches with your new Solos pals.

A seven-night Gran Canaria Tennis trip departs on 15 November, costing £1,795pp all-inclusive with flights.

So if you’re looking for a racquets break don’t get in a pickle you’ll love all these breaks.

America, Countries, Music, Sport

The L word in Chicago

18th June 202522nd June 2025 funtime65

It’s its USP, the rickety elevated trains that run through the Downtown Loop and which everyone knows as the L word in Chicago.

For a wide-eyed Scottish adolescent with American cousins my entry point to Chicago was through The Blues Brothers.

And Elwood tossing and turning in his sleep above the Plymouth Restaurant.

The filmmakers depicted his room as being right next to the L tracks, named for the elevated position.

With the location now a small park in front of the restaurant.

Your inner Elwood

I channel my inner Elwood in the Palmer House Hotel these five days in Chicago.

Where I nod off every night to sleep, with the clanking train in my ears.

The L couldn’t be easier to navigate, no validating tickets here.

Just book your $2 trip (yes, you read that right) or $5 all-day ticket.

Which praise be, you can pay for too in old Earth money at the machine.

And if even that confuses those new in town there is help at hand at the information desk.

With Old Willie giving me a pass without the need for the machine.

And chewing the fat with me about Scottish white soul band The Average White Band.

An L of a ride

Let’s go round again… and that, of course, means a return to the scene of the crime from my first day here.

The Gaybourhood of North Halsted Street, Andersonville.

And it’s spiritual home the multi-bar Sidetrack where we gather on a hot and sweltering night to celebrate Pride.

In the company of Veronica Pop, Boy J and Tender Oni.

Tender, or Oni, they go by either nomenclature, is championing Drag Kings.

And wows us with an out-of-this world Bruno Mars.

While Boy J prides themself that they can survive and does a mean Bruno themself with Veronica’s Lady Gaga.

Partners in time

We watch it all from the intimate main bar with slushy cocktails in hand of course.

Before doing our own thang on the dance floor.

Where a 4ft tall pocket rocket owns the floor, announcing to everyone that it is her 30th birthday.

She has me at ‘you only look 35’ when I tell her I’m twice her age.

She only, of course, has eyes for her partner, who holds on to her protectively.

Looking out from under the peak of her Cubs baseball hat.

Halsted Street is just down the road from Wrigley Field and I join the wave of happy sports fans back to the Belmont train.

It’s cooling down, there is lightning in the sky and the Chicagoans have brought the thunder.

The L word in Chicago.

I am travelling with Aer Lingus from Edinburgh through Dublin and now back with my luggage and staying at the Palmer House Hotel.

America, Countries, Sport

On board with Brian Wilson in California

12th June 202513th June 2025 funtime65

Turns out I was on board with Brian Wilson in California all along by skipping the wave.

Because like Brian I’m more natural at singing the praises of surfin’ than actually doing it.

As my guides from waterskiing in Malta through paddle boarding on a Royal Caribbean cruise in Barcelona will testify.

Surfin’ for us and everyone else for whom walking on sand makes more sense is about the Good Vibrations.

Wouldn’t it be nice

And there is nothing better than catching The Beach Boys themselves in California.

I guess we should have guessed all along about Brian’s aversion to surfing when we watched him on board Sloop John B.

On the overhead video during lunch break of the annual American Travel Fair in Anaheim.

As his Beach Boys channeled his vision on set below and Mike Love and I pressed flesh.

The home of surfing

As is the tradition of the Great American Song Surfin’ USA name checks as many locations as you can in a three-minute hit.

Apart from, and Brian has taken his reasons for omitting it to the Next World, Huntington Beach.

Now Huntington Beach bills itself as Surf City USA.

And while we didn’t exactly follow Jan and Dean’s advice.

And buy ourselves a ’30 Ford wagon called Woody we did get a party growin’.

Surfin’ Dogg

With a little help from a Surfin’ Dogg.

The dudest of rappers putting on a set which had us all dancin’ into the early hours.

Not that Surfin’ dogs are anything unusual on this stretch of the Pacific 44 miles south of Los Angeles.

As I first discovered when Huntington Beach rolled into Dublin and reached out to us.

And I discovered that anyone can surf with Huntington Beach even putting on dog surfing competitions.

With Bono, a Brazilian Labrador the champion although this one doesn’t wear the shades.

Anyone maybe other than me and the Beach Boys genius.

But then for his fans he will always walk on water.

And I’ve something in common with him as I’m on board with Brian Wilson in California.

So Do It Again, get out to the USA and when you do go through Ireland with Aer Lingus with pre-clearance.

To Los Angeles, sample round trip £636.

Countries, Europe, Sport

Danke for der German football memories

31st May 202531st May 2025 funtime65

And as Inter Milan and PSG meet tonight in Munich in the Champions League final here’s a Danke for der German football memories.

Not that I’d wish my early experiences on supporters or neutrals converging on the pride of Bavaria.

A fresh-faced pilgrim to the Oktoberfest I resolved to visit the cathedral of football that was the Olympiastadion.

To see the mighty Bayern Munich face Nuremberg in a fiercely-fought Bavarian derby.

Inside the ground I, of course, used what little German I had, Muller, Beckenbauer, Hoeness and they their Scottish knowledge, Stein.

Only here for der blows

Only the duelling didn’t stop there.

As I found out when I got back to the Hofbrau House where I encountered two footballing frauleins fighting.

And proceeded in true noble spirit to split them apart.

Only to get punched in the nose for my troubles.

And, to this day, I insist that it was their boyfriends, who had entered the row, who delivered the bloody blow.

With ambulances on hand, well this is Oktoberfest, the hospital patched me up and sent me on my way.

Only I couldn’t remember the name of the campsite and was grateful for the taxi driver’s local knowledge.

And for taking me to the biggest site in the city.

Where the Aussies and Kiwis, my Top Deck companions for the week, took up annual residence.

German lessons

The story, of course, ought to have ended there.

Only a hospital envelope arrived at my family home a month later addressed to James J Murty.

And, of course, my dad sharing my name but for the G initial would see it as his right to open my mail.

And he gave me a lecture about high jinx and reminded me that the bill was on me.

G’day my Beerfest buddies

As a thrill-seeking teen I, of course, ignored Pater’s advice.

And the high jinx continued up at Aberdeen particularly when the Aussies turned up unexpectedly one night and stayed a year.

But that and the next year’s Oktoberfest and singing on the bandstand are another story.

Fans for the memories

That brush with the Bavarians, of course, wasn’t about to put me off Germany.

And I have been fortunate enough to return regularly over the years.

And even tour the heartland of German football, the Ruhr

As well as Dortmund and the German Football Museum where I got pictured with the European Cup.

Alas, those Bayern Munich fans, wherever they are, will not get the pleasure this year.

Of seeing their favourites lift ‘Old Big Ears’.

But they can console themselves with their rich history to call on.

Of which I am part… Danke for der German football memories.

Countries, Sport

The London Marathon and others that run and run

26th April 202526th April 2025 funtime65

And we’ll all participate, at a distance, tomorrow in the London Marathon and others that run and run.

And it has run since 490BC when soldier Pheidippides ran the approximate 26 miles 285 yards from Marathon to Athens.

To report on the Greeks’ victory on the battlefield against the invading Persian Army.

Only, of course, it was a race in name only as he had no competitors, more a race against the clock really.

You Sphinx you know your Marathons

If we’re really looking for a marker for a very long running race we should look to the Egyptians.

And King Taharka who instituted a 100km race for his military, equivalent to the modern ultradistance event.

And which has has been revived as the Pharaonic 100km.

From the Hawara pyramid at El Faioum to the Sakkara pyramids to the south-west of Cairo.

Boston Marathon Party

Such distances were beyond the imagination of the organisers of the first Modern Olympics in 1896, officially the first Marathon race.

But the theatre of the abbreviated race caught the imagination of nations and was reprised in the New World.

And as is so often the case New York and Boston contest that they were the architects.

Although our friends in Beantown have validated their claim by holding theirs every year since 1897, the longest-running annual Marathon.

And hard on their heels

Running men: Everyone has their own race

Yonkers in New York was hard on their heels in 1907, with South Africa bunching up in 1921.

The oldest annual Marathon in Europe might not be where you’d expect.

With the Kosice Peace Marathon in Slovakia, which dates back to 1924 attracting 10,000 runners annually.

Asia and specifically Korea and Japan caught up before and after the Second World War.

London for charity

Today Marathons are run in cities all around the world.

With the Big Five considered to be Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London and New York.

All something to dwell on if you’re on the London route tomorrow or even running it.

The London Marathon and others that run and run.

And know too that you’re contributing to the world’s largest annual one-day fundraising event.

With more than £1.3bn raised for charity since 1981.

And if you want a travel provider to take the strain while you train let Sports Tours International do your heavy lifting.

Canada, Countries, Flying, Sport

Canada party on dude

23rd March 202523rd March 2025 funtime65

Yes way, new prime minister Mark Carney is pulling out all the stops with Mike Myers as they assert independence and say… Canada party on dude.

Myers didn’t so much wrap himself in the flag in the promo vid than pad up in ice hockey top with a message for America.

And so Carney cheekily tested the great comedian’s authenticity as an American because he’s Hollywood’s based.

And set him a number of quick fire questions.

Which we presume are easy for Canadians.

You a Canadian, eh?

International man of mystery: Austin Powers

And so there was no stuttering when the PM asked him to name the puppets on kids’ TV show Mr Dressup… Casey and Finnegan.

Some other popular cultural references are posed.

And a geographical gimme, the capital of Saskstchewan… Regina obviously.

Puck stops here

Before the premier sets Mike the big money question, an ice hockey tactical riddle.

Which having covered hockey among my range of sports I and Mike know.

That when you’re a defenceman defending a two on one you take away the pass obviously.

And that the two seasons in Toronto are winter and construction.

Always be a Canada

What the Doctor ordered: In Austin’s world

After which PM Carney gives a mock approval and tells Mike… ‘Wow, you really are a Canadian.’

And Mike asks the politician.. ‘will there always be a Canada?’

And Carney assures them there will and they greet each other in hockey style with ‘Elbows up’.

It’s good to see a newly-peroxised Mike who has been under the radar, back, and with a new Shrek to promote.

Yes, way

Whatever Mike’s views on Donald Trump, and they share Scottish ancestry, his Shrek is a better Caledonian ccent than mine.

While he famously channeled his English roots for Austin Powers.

It was, of course, as Wayne Campbell thar we were first introduced to the comic genius.

And it is a scene where Wayne and pal Garth make fun with signs behind their sponsor’s back on their home TV show that we recall.

And wonder at the fun they could have if ever they were invited to the White House.

Canada Aer

And Mike could tell him that in his country they say Canada party on dude.

The best way, of course, to support Canada is to visit.

And we always advise to go through Ireland with Aer Lingus and pre-clearance at £566.52 as part of a return fare.