Highland Games

Just thought I’d share some pics from my first Highland Games. I didn’t throw all that well, but I had a blast and since it was my first every event was a PR.

28#throw

caber toss


22# hammer

56#toss


56#throw

Nice skirt…j/k

What are the specs on the caber toss? How much does that thing weigh?

[quote]Uncle Fester wrote:
Nice skirt…j/k

What are the specs on the caber toss? How much does that thing weigh?[/quote]

You know why it’s called a kilt. . .cause we kilt the last guy that called it a skirt.

There is no official specs on the caber. The rules read that it should be of sufficient size that only one competitor is able to turn it. This one was around 16’ and 110lbs or so. I didn’t manage to get it turned, but it was more do to gripping problems.

My old college holds the Arkansas Scottish Festival every year, I used to love watching that stuff.

Did you feel like these events required a huge amount of technique moreso than brute strength? A hundred ten pounds isn’t a lot of weight, but balancing/tossing a pole that size has got to be awkward. I’ve always felt it would take a ton of event specific practice to be successful at those competitions.

The events take a lot more technique then brute strength. Of course technique applied with brute strength is what wins. Being large really helps as well. I was by far the smallest guy there @ 185# and the heavy weight events, the weight pulled me around some. The caber isn’t all that heavy, but you are trying to control roughly 15 or 16 feet by 2 feet so the weight has a lot of control up top. the training is a lot of fun as well even though I get a lot of crazy looks from my neighbors.

wow, good for you. always wanted to do that.

how did you get into it? just start tossing logs end over end?

I got into it just randomly figuring that throwing would be a good supplement to my Judo training and help build core strength (It really does).
Here are a few sites that have helped.
NASGA- good information about the sport NASGA - North American Scottish Games Athletics
Scottish Heavy Athletics- this site has lots of tips about training and getting/ making equipment Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos
Association of Scottish Games and Festivals- list of events in North America http://www.asgf.org/
Of course you’ll need a kilt http://www.sportkilt.com/ -Sport Kilt has the best prices I was able to find.

Hope that helps. There is a ton of info out there, but I figured this was enough to help anyone get started.

Darshu,

Good to see you “showed up” and did it. Too bad you won’t make Ligonier, but if you keep on me, maybe I will.

Regards,
Mark

Awesome work, man. Gotta watch the HG, though. It’s like crack. 10 years ago I tried one, too.

Haven’t stopped since.