Highland Games

We got to experience our first Highlander Games this past Sunday. The games consisted of competitions in Scottish dance, pipes and drums, and the fan favorite heavy events including the stone put, the weight throw, and the caber toss. Where else can you see an extremely muscular 300 pound man wearing a kilt tossing a 56 pound weight over a 13 foot high bar using one hand? By the way, we witnessed one contestant break a Scottish record in this event (16'5").

One of the more interesting aspects of the games was the pipes and drums competition. I never knew there were so many organized pipe bands out there. Upon arriving to the park you couldn't help but notice the sound of hundreds of bagpipes filling the air. Now yes the bagpipe is the ugly step-child of musical instruments but it does have its place and at a highland game is certainly one of them. I can honestly say I was never annoyed even after hearing each band play the exact same tune for the judges.

Would you tell this man he

looks silly in a kilt? That

pole weighs 175 pounds.

The highlight of the day for Erin was seeing all the young girls compete in the Scottish dance competition. Mainly because all the girls have matching outfits. My favorite part was definitely the caber toss. It was extremely riveting. In case you're not familiar with the caber toss, here's a brief introduction. Each contestant has three chances to pick-up a large wooden pole (typically 20 feet tall and weighing 175 pounds) and using their forward momentum, toss the pole so that it flips one time. In this weekends caber toss, each contestant failed on their first and second attempts, but on the final try, the man that was victorious in every other event, succeeded in overturning his caber. It was an extremely impressive feat.