Heavy Events

Highland Games have always included, besides dancing and piping competitions, Heavy and Light events: ‘Heavy’ being the sorts of things associated in the USA with Field events such as shot put, hammer throw, etc., while ‘Light’ is equivalent to ‘Track’— foot races and such. It is the Heavy events that have caught on outside of Scotland: the stone put (with a rock instead of a cannonball), weight throws, hammer (with a cane or wood handle instead of a chain), caber toss (‘caber’ being the Gaelic word for pole), sheaf (hay-bale) toss, and others.

I got started at Chino in 1986—Jim McGoldrick, the great world-champion pro from San Jose, California, held an informal workshop on how to toss the caber, and I was hooked. I started a regular training program (I think I was looking for something to offset the mental strain of graduate school) and competed all over California, in Washington, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Virgina and New Jersey. Left is a shot of me tossing the caber at the Waxhaw Games in North Carolina in 1990 (the purpose of the throw is to achieve a perfect ‘12:00 o'clock’ angle with the caber, meaning that the lower end, the end I had ahold of before I heaved the whole thing up, and which is now uppermost in the photo, ends up pointing directly away from me, a feat which I did indeed accomplish four times with this stick, winning the event).

Left is a photo from the Program for the 1991 Costa Mesa Games: John Canino, formerly a competitor, here a judge, is watching me start my approach to the launch of the caber. Right is a picture from the UCR newspaper; I was out in the quad trying (unsuccessfully) to drum up interest at the "home of the Highlanders" for Heavy Events.

A rogue’s gallery of me and some of my opponents, from the Program for the 1989 Santa Rosa (now Pleasanton) Games, may be found here.

Actually, my best event was not the caber, but the 28 lb. weight throw. Pictured is one of my efforts at the Waxhaw Games. My best throw was at Costa Mesa in 1991: it appears in the Scottish American Athletic Association July 1991 newsletter and here. Weights were adapted from farmer’s implements, and came in 56 lb. (half a hundredweight) and 28 lb. varieties. Spinning around, as with a discus, with a 56 lb. weight out on the end of a chain, requires some neat footwork.

Other events are, as mentioned above, the hammer, in 16 lb. and 22 lb. weights, stone puts, including Braemar, with a standing start, and open, with a running start, and various other sheaf tosses, Farmer’s Walk (pick up a big weight in each hand and carry it as far as you can—I once carried 300 lbs. 321 feet) and whatever else a committee of local lunatics could dream up. People wonder where these things originated, but there’s really no mystery. For example it was commonplace in Scotland for a hamlet to keep a big rock on hand with which to challenge visitors who fancied themselves strong: “Oh yeah? Our local bully can carry/throw/lift this rock so far; let’s see what you can do with it!” Hammer throws originated with blacksmiths getting drunk after work and challenging each other; weight throws with farmers getting drunk after work and challenging each other; and the caber toss? Scotland had lumberjacks at one time, before they cut all the trees down; one can imagine them getting really drunk and dreaming up creative things to do with a log. Actually, I understand that Norway has a similar event—I rest my case.

For more about Heavy Events, as well as Dancing and Piping at the Games, see Donaldson, Emily Ann, The Scottish Highland Games in America (1986) still available new and used at BookFinder and elsewhere.

The real purpose of this page is to showcase my medals and trophies, which I am in the process of divesting or packing away, being tired of lugging them around. So a virtual gallery, if you’re really interested, may be found here.

Back to Scott Leslie’s Highlands Page