The Place: Antigonish, Nova Scotia
The Treasure: 150th Highland Games
The 150th Highland Games have come and gone. Hopefully you’ve gotten a chance to take them in. If not, plan to be there next year.
We got out to the games on the final day and got to see three heavy events.
The caber toss. Basically the goal of this event is to balance the 20 foot long (give or take) caber against the body, get a running start and then throw the caber high enough and forward enough that it lands on it’s end and falls forward. A perfect toss falls directly away from the thrower (12 o’clock).
Tug of war. This isn’t the tug of war you think. This is serious business, serious competition. The women’s event was 8 minutes with a 2 minute overtime if required. The men’s was 15 minutes with a 5 minute overtime if required. The first 85% or so of the tug of war is feeling out the other side, gaining slight advantage on the flag and trying to tire out the other team. The last 15% is where it gets interesting. One of the teams pull the trigger, they change stances and really go for it.
The last even we got to see was the 56lb weight for height. A round weight with a ring attached is tossed in to the air and over a bar. The world record is 19′ 1”.
There was also pipe and drum competitions going on around us:
The Highland Games are a great atmosphere. This is our second year going and will make it on our calendar for many years to come, put it on yours for next year.
Even if the forklift didn’t get stuck this year… 😉
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Here is the current weather and a map to help you plan your trip:
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