Day One: Highland Games
We wanted to get on the road early enough to make it to most of the events at the Abernethy Highland Games in Nethy Bridge. The drive was not so long, maybe three and one half hours and provided the disconcerting experience of driving over the Firth of Forth on a see-through bridge (the shoulders and center of the bridge were just grates and you could see the one hundred fifty feet down to the water). High speed left side driving took a bit of getting used to, for example cruising in the left lane. We arrived a little later than desired and the parking was starting to fill up. We were redirected to a new parking lot that was not doing so well after weeks of rain. For fun, the attendants directed us to the soupiest mud hole in the field where we spun our wheels for some time. (Ultimately, I went back during a bit of sunshine and moved the van without assistance, but passed several vans and a camper with drivers, passengers, and parking attendants all scratching their heads wondering who was going to pull them out.)
The games were rather entertaining, especially the “Heavy Events” of the traditional highland sort: shot put, weight for distance, weight over bar, Scots hammer, and caber. All these Heavy events must be performed in a kilt. We saw a junior “smash” an 11 year old record in the weight over bar, besting the old record by a foot with his sixteen feet nine inches. It was surprising how thrilling it would be to watch an enormous 18 year old fling an anvil up in the air. The caber (or caber toss) is probably the most recognizably Scottish Highland Game. The athlete tossing the caber (no jokes please) would run with a judge running just behind him and another two on the sides. The point is not to throw this for distance, but to toss the caber skillfully so that it flies straight, lands directly on its end, and arcs over for a flat landing on the gound. Speed is also important. I can only assume this was invented during the days of illicit distilling when the cask-strength whiskies were probably around 80% ABV.
There was a bag pipe competition, with eight pipe and drum bands attending. Throughout the day, the massed pipe band (all eight bands in one, or seven if one was competing) would just enter the field and march around the track. The band actually marched out onto the track in the middle of the women’s 800m. This was too bad for the ladies who had run 400m of that race already.
There was a Scottish dancing competition. Now I didn’t watch too much of this, but apparently some of the dances were different than others as there were many categories. I think without training, you would not be able to tell. My favorite part of this competition was the music. The dancers, in every dance, for the entire day, on two different stages, were dancing to a piper piping. They rotated about six pipers between the two stages, but one would play for an entire event. I guess this was for fairness. If the piper stunk, everyone in a single competition would have the same stinky piper. The massed pipe band entering the field and drowning out your singular piper was not cause for a do-over.
The High Chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma was the Chief of the games. It seems the clans of Scotland and the tribes of Native Americans have many similarities. The clan of the games was the Clan Grant, and the High Chief of the Cherokee Nation, Chad Smith (Really, that doesn’t very Indian?) was the sixth great grandson of a pioneer from the Clan Grant. The Cherokee in attendance put on a demonstration of their battle sport called stick ball. In ancient times, two bickering tribes would agree to settle disputes via stick ball rather than wage war on each other. There were few rules and much bloodshed. In modern times, the game is men and boys versus women and girls. The men must use the sticks to touch the ball and cannot hit, while the women are not obliged to follow any rules whatsoever. The oldest kid played in this demonstration.
The largest event was the Abernethy 10 mile run, a trail racing event that drew roughly 120 participants. When I found out about it a few days before leaving, I certainly regretted my lack of running in recent weeks. Had I been running regularly, I would have run this race.
The fee to enter the games was also your entry fee for all the events. I had hopes of winning the 100m, but failed to sign up in time. I went to the registration tent and asked if I could sign up for the 100m. I was told I could only sign up for events beginning after the 800m because all the other events were already out with the officials. My choices were caber toss, 1500m, 400m (handicap). With no kilt for the caber and having not run in a few weeks, I thought a full out 1500m would be a bit harsh on my body and ruin our trip, so I opted for the 400m. I had to enter as a scratch. The handicaps that were awarded were 30m to two runners and 60m to another. That’s 7.5% and 15% of the race, quit a head start in a sprint. I wouldn’t have won a fair race, but I would have placed second I think. Instead, I came in fourth running my 400m in 68.83s. That’s not going to make the high school track team, but it does meet the gold standard for the German Sports Badge for 30-39 year-old males.
After the games, we drove for another hour or so and followed the GPS to our cottage. After about fifteen minutes on a single lane road that the GPS called simply “road”, Amy mentioned that she had found our cottage available on the web page “undiscovered Scotland.” It was as remote as one might get in Speyside. The best part was when the GPS (street speaking) lady said to us, “Navigate off-road for .5 miles.” So, Amy made some dinner, kids ran around, and the owner pointed out the Glenlivet Distillery in our panoramic view.
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