The Highland Games are Going Strong

May 19, 2016

I have always been curious to find what this is all about after years of seeing advertisements for these Games. I picture a large bearded man heaving a big rock or throwing a Thor-like hammer. Locally, a version of the Highland Games is performed even though we are six thousand miles away from the real highlands of Scotland. The internet has allowed the world to enjoy a good look at what, at first glance, appears to be an outdoor festival with a bunch of people performing ancient feats of strength. Yes, it is that and more.

The Highland Games celebrates Scotch and Celtic culture and especially that of the Scottish Highlands. Yes, you hear a good dose of bagpipes and men wearing kilts which is part of the scene, but it centers on the competitions for the Scotch athletics along with piping, dancing, and drumming. Though the events are based on centuries of Highland culture, the organized version of what we see today was started in the 1800s. It is said to be influenced by a chap named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who saw a display at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. He wanted to plan the event based on a revival of the Olympics.

The Highland Games is now a worldwide sport with a season running from May through September. The most renowned Highland competition is the Cowel Games held in Dunoon, Scotland. This competition will attract an international crowd of 25,000 people. In the US, two events bring in more attention, those being performed in Pleasanton, California, which has as many as 50,000 spectators during Labor Day, and the one at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, which sees more than 30,000 spectators.

Of course, the great cultural aspect of the games attracts many, but I think that most of the fans are present to drink some good Scotch, what? Yes, I am kidding. When I go to my first games, I look forward to seeing good athletes perform acts of strength and listen to the bagpipes. Something about the pipes can bring a tear to my eye.

As far as the feats of strength, here is a list of some of the events:

The Scottish Hammer Throw - Like the traditional hammer throw, the man or woman here heaves a metal ball with a four-foot shaft connected to it. Feet stay in a fixed position as the athlete twirls them overhead then releases.

The Caber Toss - A person holds a long pine pole that is tapered and held end over end. With the thicker part on the bottom, the pole is tossed and flipped so the thinner end is on the ground and the fatter is on top. The goal is to get the pole to stand straight up in a twelve o'clock manner.

Stone Put - This is similar to the shot put, but here a real stone is used instead of a steel ball. There are two different competitions with this event, one allows for any pre-throw motion, and the other is a standing position as long as the stone is heaved with only one hand with the rock cradled against the neck. These stones weigh various weights ranging from 20 to 26 pounds for men and 13 to 18 for women in the standing-only event, and 16-22 and 8 -12 in the open throwing category.

Sheaf toss - The athletes have to heave a 20-pound bag of straw with a pitchfork over a bar. Like pole vaulting, the bar has risen after successful attempts. The women use a ten-pounder.

Other great displays of strength are on display throughout the festival, which is just as medieval and entertaining. The Highland Game festivals are open invitational, and these events create a statistical database for the athletes and competitors to know who they are up against. There is also a World Championship event called the World Highland Games Championship performed every year since 1980.

Hundreds of versions of the Highland Games exist internationally because it has something for everybody to enjoy. I am looking forward to seeing my first Highland spectacle this summer because I think most of us can appreciate this type of time-honored celebration of culture and athletics. Now, where's the Scotch whiskey?