The athletics track at the Queens Park Athletics Stadium, Inverness, is set to be fully refurbished after the venue's operator, Inverness Leisure, secured £125,000 of funding for the scheme.

First opened in 1984, the 400m synthetic, all-weather track will undergo its first major work since it was upgraded from a six-lane to an eight-lane facility in 1996. Both the Inverness Common Good Fund and Inverness Council's Education, Culture and Sport department have contributed £62,500 towards the scheme, which it is hoped will be completed by the summer in time for the 2009-10 season.

James Martin, Inverness Leisure general manager, said: "With the forthcoming 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow we are hoping that having these events on home soil will see an increase in the uptake and participation in athletics at all levels." Angus Dick, chair of the Highlands Athletics Partnership, added: "It is really great news, not only for athletics in Inverness, but for the Highlands as a whole that the facilities are about to be refurbished and upgraded."