Aberdeenshire council

The Prime Four Beast Race will take place at Knockburn Sports Loch, near Strachan, Banchory, on Saturday.

Competitors travelling from the south can now reach the event using the B974 Fettercairn to Strachan road, avoiding a lengthy diversion up the A90.

Those travelling from the north or from Banchory or Aberdeen in the east will have to take a slight diversion of around 7.2 miles due to the closure of Strachan Bridge for refurbishment.

Signage is in place indicating the closure and the alternative route via: B974, C17M and the B975.

The Spittal Burn Bridge was seriously damaged by a lorry at the start of the month, forcing the closure of the road, but Aberdeenshire Council’s Structures team pulled out all the stops to finish early.

The emergency repairs were expected to take four weeks, with a diversion in place over the Slug Road (A957) between Stonehaven and Crathes.

Structures Manager, Donald MacPherson, said: "We’re really pleased to get the road reopen early, particularly given how popular the Beast race is and how many people will be travelling to it.

“We still have a little work to do to completely finish the repair work, but it is now safe for vehicular traffic – we’d just ask anyone using the road to take care when negotiating the bridge.

“We’re acutely aware of the importance of this road to local people, visitors and the local economy and while we investigate options to prevent recurring damage to this historic bridge in future we would like to avoid any further emergency road closures.”

Substantial repairs were carried out on the bridge in 2004, at a cost of £100,000, to increase the load carrying capacity and widen the approaches to it from both sides.

Details of all road closures and restrictions are available on the Aberdeenshire Council website at: http://bit.ly/roadrestrictions