Scottish Games

2011 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Scottish Games and Highland Gathering in Charleston, to be held September 17th at Boone Hall Plantation. This is no doubt one of the most enjoyable family events in Coastal South Carolina, and features some of the most unusual sporting competitions ever witnessed. There's loads of fun annually on this warm September Saturday, with bagpipes echoing among ancient oak trees of Boone Hall's plantation lawns. The food, costumes, dancing and merrymaking are a grand time unto themselves, but it's the skill of the strong men in their Scottish kilts that makes it all so worthwhile.
The most visually incredible competition is the caber toss, in which massive cypress logs are flung by individual competitors. As long as 22 feet, the caber can weigh hundreds of pounds, and the trick is to hold it cupped in two hands and heave it end over end. Only the most powerful and skilled can do this and brawn is only part of the equation. The stone clacknert is a lump of rock that is heaved similar to a shot put, and it is remarkable how far this massive can be thrown by much more massive performers. A typical Scottish Games competitor weighs in at the 250-300 pound mark, which is necessary in throwing 28 and 56-pound iron weights for distance, and spinning discus-like with arms outstretched to toss the long metal hammer.
The sheaf toss is a throwback to days on the Scottish farms, as competitors spear a heavy mass of hay bale with a pitchfork, and try to throw it over a pole set on supports high above the ground. The pole is set higher and higher until the highest throw wins, then it's a mad dash to the nearest ibuprofen bottle.
There is also a Border Collie Demo competition in which these classic dogs show their skill, and the day is not complete without a dancing of Scottish reels to pipes and drums.
Charleston has a very strong Scottish connection, and those of Scottish descent make up the largest European heritage in the city. More than 35 Scottish clans will be represented in 2011, as the games are a throwback to the days when these families gathered to assert their nationality and independence. The strength competitions date from an era when soldiers were chosen from the strongest and most skilled, and the event has not lost any of its luster in all the centuries since.

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