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4th Annual St Jude Scottish Highland Games |
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What Are Highland Games?
Heavy athletics refer to the athletic events that require significant strength and power. Heavy athletics include stone
throwing, weight tossing, hammer-throwing, caber turning, and sheaf tossing. Scottish heavy athletics should not be confused with "strongman" competitions, which involve lifting cars, loading kegs,
etc. Scottish heavy athletic events are traditional events involving traditional equipment, while the strongman events have
been mostly invented recently, using modern equipment. Categories of competition: Professional, Amateur, light weight, Masters (over 40), women's, and new this year Juniors
(8-13) doing a half time show THE EVENTS The St Jude Highland Game will include breamar stone, open stone, heavy and light weight throw for distance, two hammers,
caber toss, sheaf, and the weight over bar. Check out the photos at the bottom of the page Stones Description: The stone put, or clachneart, involves "putting" the stone as far as possible. The stone
must be put; i.e. like in the shot put; the stone may not be thrown from behind like a baseball, underarm like a softball,
or overhead with two hands. The open stone weighs between 16 and 22 pounds for men and 8 to 12 pounds for women. The stone is thrown
from behind a "trig," which is a straight piece of wood about the size of a railroad tie. The athlete has a rectangular bow
in witch he or she must keep one foot in at all times. The Braemar stone is a larger stone that must be put without a run; that is, it must be put from a stand;
no glide or spin. Origin: One of the oldest contests of strength and athletic ability: who can put a stone, too heavy to be thrown overhand,
farthest for distance. Weight for distance Description Origin: Rectangular cubic weights with handles, used for measuring farm produce. The #56 weight throw was also an event
in the early modern Olympics, but it was discontinued in the 1920's. In Scottish heavy athletics competition, you can only
hold the weight with one hand, whereas you can use two hands in track & field. The Hammer Throw Description: The Scottish hammer has a total length not exceeding of 4'2". The weight of the light hammer is 16 pounds,
and the heavy hammer weighs 22 pounds. Women: light hammer is #12, heavy hammer is #16. The athlete must throw the hammer from behind the trig from a stand, no turns. The athlete swings the hammer around faster
and faster, and then releases. Many athletes wear boots with long spikes, which help anchor them to the ground
so that they can lean back over the trig to get a longer swing without falling over or being lifted from the ground. Origin: A sledgehammer. Later, a dedicated throwing hammer was given a spherical head to lessen damage upon landing.
The Scottish hammer has a rattan, plastic, or wooden handle. Turning the Caber Description A perfect execution is called a "twelve o-clock turn," where the caber falls straight away from where the athlete released
it. The terminology derives from the release point being at the "6" and the caber planting at the center of an imaginary clock
face. Then the caber becomes the hour hand upon landing. In a 12-o-clock toss, the caber falls away from the thrower and the
caber forms a straight line through the thrower. Sometimes the caber falls off slightly to the side. This may be a 10-o-clock,
or 11:30, etc. Note that in scoring, a 10:00 is equivalent to a 2:00. If the athlete fails to turn the caber, the side judge
estimates the maximum angle that the caber achieved from vertical (from 0 to 90 degrees). Origin: There are many myths about how this originated, but it was probably just interesting to see who could flip
a giant log. The Sheaf Toss Description: The sheaf is a #16 or #20 bag of hay (#10 or #12 women), that is tossed over a bar with a three-tined
pitchfork. It is conducted like the #56 weight toss, except it goes about twice as high. Origin: After the hay bails dried in the field, they were brought in to the barn on a wagon. Farmers would tie a bunch
of hay into sheaves (using twine) then they would toss individual sheaves from the wagon up to the barn loft for winter storage.
This is still done in Midwest U.S. Amish country and in some poor European countries like Poland. This is the pre-mechanized
method of hay/straw storage, which preceded the old mechanized rectangular bailer, and then the modern cylindrical bailer. Weight over bar Description: The standard weight is 56#. Women use a 28# weight, and masters use a 42# weight. There are
two styles of throwing the weight over bar. The first style is the standing weight over bar. In a standing throw, the athlete
stands under the bar and throws the weight from between their legs. The second is the spinning weight over bar. In this style,
the athlete gets 9 feet behind the trig for the weight throws, and usually does two turns before releasing. The weight is
thrown over a horizontal bar, which is raised incrementally. Athletes get three attempts to clear each height. As the bar
is raised, athletes who do not clear are eliminated.
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