Sources for Information
MASA - Mid-Atlantic - http://www.heavyevents.com/
SSAAA - Southeast - http://www.thessaaa.org/
NESA - Northeast - http://www.newenglandstrength.com/index.htm
GLSAA - Great Lakes - http://www.glsaa.com/
NCHA - North Central - http://www.northcentralheavies.com/
RMSA - Midwest - http://www.rmsa.org/
SAAA - West Coast - http://www.saaa-net.org/
NASGA - North America (also general gathering message board for Highland Games) - http://www.nasgaweb.com/
The Events
Open Stone (16 - 22 lbs) - http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/vierra-stone-2.mpg
Braemar Stone (22 - 28 lbs) - http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/gudmundson-braemar-2.mpg
56# Heavy Weight for Distance - http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/sandford-56-1.mpg
28# Light Weight for Distance- http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/brebner-28-1.mpg
22# Heavy Hammer - http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/vierra-22-3.mpg
16# Light Hammer - http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/king-16-1.mpg
Caber Toss - http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/vierra-caber-1.mpg
16# Sheaf Toss - http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/kd-wr.mpg
56# Weight Over Bar - http://www.highlandgames.net/videos/sandford-wob.mpg
Rules
You can review the MASA rules here: http://www.heavyevents.com/rules/index.php
Local Training Groups
Post your name and where you live - with a request for in-person help on the Training page of this forum, or Private Message Bryan McClain, aka Sheaf Daddy, from this forum and he will help you find a training group in your area.
Signing Up for MASA Competitions
Please read the other Announcement titled Competition Registration Procedure - http://www.heavyevents.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=153 - and follow the directions for monitoring competition dates, available classes, and registration opening dates.
How to Get Started
1. Review online videos for the events. Good sources include: Google (search for Highland Games) and Sorinex - http://sorinexforums.com/community/forumdisplay.php?s=91c81d254d84632ceb116e2177769990&f=8
2. Find an experienced thrower in your area and learn the basics.
3. Find a clinic and attend. Larry Brock - http://www.brockthrow.com/ - and Ryan Vierra - http://www.ryanvierrausa.com/ are top pro's that both conduct top-notch clinics.
4. Video yourself throwing and compare to better throwers so you can learn to identify your mistakes.
5. Get out and compete!
Equipment
Malcolm Doying (Old Celt) - http://www.nasgaweb.com/ads/oldcelt/
Tony Dziepak has some ideas on everything, including making training equipment - http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/8682/heavy/
Tacky - A sticky substance that helps you hold onto the weights and hammers. Larry Brock - http://www.brockthrow.com/ is the best source.
What to Wear?
Requirements for competition: Kilt and Highland Hose.
Kilts - A lot of the guys like Stillwater Kilts - http://www.stillwaterkilts.com/ - or Sportkilt - http://www.sportkilt.com/ - for fairly cheap and functional kilts. You can also do a search and find many custom kilt makers for higher end kilts. You can also get your Highland Hose (long socks basically) from the kiltmakers.
Shoes - A lot of guys wear Tanel 360 - http://www.tanel360.com/ - or javelin shoes (from track and field).
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King Joes Barbell Club
622 E.Drinker St. Dunmore PA 18512
HIGHLAND GAMES 
Donald Dinnie
“Scotland’s Greatest Athlete”
Born in Balnacraig, Scotland on July 8th, 1837, Donald Dinnie was a legend of the nineteenth century Highland Games. Regarded by many as Scotland’s greatest athlete, Dinnie is most famous for simultaneously carrying two huge boulders, totaling 785lbs, across the Potarch Bridge. Now known affectionately as the “Dinnie Steens,” the boulders remained where Dinnie left them in 1860, despite many attempts to carry them across the bridge, until 1972.
A trained stonemason, Dinnie dominated the Highland games in Scotland from 1856-1876, with the exception of one year when he was traveling North America. Dinnie was an all-around strength athlete who was at home on the Highland games fields as he was in wrestling or circus rings or on exhibit as a strongman. He was an all-rounder in the Highland games and competed in weight putting, tossing the caber, leaping, jumping, running and Highland dancing. Weighing in at fifteen stone (210 lbs), described as having not an ounce of extra flesh upon him, and standing at six-foot-one, Dinnie must have been a formidable athlete. The records he set in various events in the Highland games in which he competed stood for many years after his death.
Dinnie is also known for being the first competitor to travel and compete in other Highland Games overseas. Apart from the U.S., he also visited Australia and New Zealand as well as South Africa. The years did not seem to make much difference to Dinnie as an athletic performer; he won his last prize in the Highland games at the age of 76, before retiring in 1913. He is recorded to have earned twenty-six thousand pounds in prize money (today if would total to more than $2.5 million), and won over 10,000 awards and competitions during his career.
Highland Games 2008 season 
North American Scottish Games Athletics
What are the Scottish Highland Games?
The Scottish Highland Games are annual festivals that celebrate Scottish culture. Highland games can be found throught the United States and Canada, as well as in Scotland, of course. Scottish highland games are also popular in Australia and New Zealand
The first games were held in the 11th century under the reign of the Scottish King Malcolm of Canmore. In 1057 the King held a crude form of Scottish athletics to lift the moral of his troops before battle. The strongest men were chosen as the King’s personal body guards and the fastest became his couriers. Implements used were those found around the blacksmith’s shop and available to the early Scotsman:
- Woodsmen produced the caber (Gaelic for tree)
- A blacksmith’s hammer used for driving in fence posts became the hammer
- Scale weights used for measuring grain, oats etc. became the 56 lb and 28 lb weights throw for distance and height.
- A rounded riverbed stone made the ideal stone of strength which every young boy had to throw a certain distance as a rite of passage into manhood.
- In modern times a sheaf with a pitchfork has been added to some games and it emerged from agricultural purposes...
The exact origins of today’s highland games are unknown. However, it is likely that they came from the contests of strength, speed, agility and skill which were commonplace during the various fairs, clan gatherings, and tainchels, or great hunts, of medieval Scotland.
From the earliest times, the highland chieftains would gather their clans together to celebrate in times of peace. The clan’s warriors used these gatherings to test their physical fitness, as these events provided a great excuse to challenge each other in running, jumping, wrestling, and with early forms of weight putting with boulders. Such games also ensured that the Highlanders would keep fit for war.
The exact origins of the games are unknown because after the final battle of the long-running Jacobite Rebellion, life in the Highlands was disrupted and changed forever. The Jacobite Rebellion was dynastic struggle between two different royal houses: the house of Stuart and the house of Hanover, for the rule of Scotland. In 1745, Charles Edward Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, made a final attempt to restore a Stuart king to the throne of Scotland. The Bonnie Prince was only able to rouse 5,000 Highlanders against the 9,000 troops of William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland and son of the Hanoverian king George II, in charge of ending the Stuart bid for the throne. Up until the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746, the Young Pretender (Bonnie Prince Charlie) and his Highlanders were undefeated. After Culloden, the English army was eager to enact retribution, and ‘Butcher’ Cumberland ordered that all wounded, as well as any one found near the battle, regardless of age or gender, be killed.
After the defeat of Prince Charles’ Jacobite Highlanders on Culloden Moor, the ruling government’s forces devastated the highlands with new laws designed to make future rebellions impossible. These new laws led to the largest uprooting of Highlanders in history, and a complete alteration of the highland way of life. Highlanders were made to swear an oath to obey the Disarming acts, and the wearing of the kilt and tartan, playing of the pipes and the carrying of arms were all banned. Highland chiefs were stripped of their powers and became mere landlords. With these new laws strictly enforced, the old highland way of life came to an end, and the highland games virtually disappeared.
|
Donald Dinnie
“Scotland’s Greatest Athlete”
Born in Balnacraig, Scotland on July 8th, 1837, Donald Dinnie was a legend of the nineteenth century Highland Games. Regarded by many as Scotland’s greatest athlete, Dinnie is most famous for simultaneously carrying two huge boulders, totaling 785lbs, across the Potarch Bridge. Now known affectionately as the “Dinnie Steens,” the boulders remained where Dinnie left them in 1860, despite many attempts to carry them across the bridge, until 1972.
A trained stonemason, Dinnie dominated the Highland games in Scotland from 1856-1876, with the exception of one year when he was traveling North America. Dinnie was an all-around strength athlete who was at home on the Highland games fields as he was in wrestling or circus rings or on exhibit as a strongman. He was an all-rounder in the Highland games and competed in weight putting, tossing the caber, leaping, jumping, running and Highland dancing. Weighing in at fifteen stone (210 lbs), described as having not an ounce of extra flesh upon him, and standing at six-foot-one, Dinnie must have been a formidable athlete. The records he set in various events in the Highland games in which he competed stood for many years after his death.
Dinnie is also known for being the first competitor to travel and compete in other Highland Games overseas. Apart from the U.S., he also visited Australia and New Zealand as well as South Africa. The years did not seem to make much difference to Dinnie as an athletic performer; he won his last prize in the Highland games at the age of 76, before retiring in 1913. He is recorded to have earned twenty-six thousand pounds in prize money (today if would total to more than $2.5 million), and won over 10,000 awards and competitions during his career.
Highland Games 2008 season North American Scottish Games Athletics
What are the Scottish Highland Games?
The Scottish Highland Games are annual festivals that celebrate Scottish culture. Highland games can be found throught the United States and Canada, as well as in Scotland, of course. Scottish highland games are also popular in Australia and New Zealand
The first games were held in the 11th century under the reign of the Scottish King Malcolm of Canmore. In 1057 the King held a crude form of Scottish athletics to lift the moral of his troops before battle. The strongest men were chosen as the King’s personal body guards and the fastest became his couriers. Implements used were those found around the blacksmith’s shop and available to the early Scotsman:
- Woodsmen produced the caber (Gaelic for tree)
- A blacksmith’s hammer used for driving in fence posts became the hammer
- Scale weights used for measuring grain, oats etc. became the 56 lb and 28 lb weights throw for distance and height.
- A rounded riverbed stone made the ideal stone of strength which every young boy had to throw a certain distance as a rite of passage into manhood.
- In modern times a sheaf with a pitchfork has been added to some games and it emerged from agricultural purposes...
The exact origins of today’s highland games are unknown. However, it is likely that they came from the contests of strength, speed, agility and skill which were commonplace during the various fairs, clan gatherings, and tainchels, or great hunts, of medieval Scotland.
From the earliest times, the highland chieftains would gather their clans together to celebrate in times of peace. The clan’s warriors used these gatherings to test their physical fitness, as these events provided a great excuse to challenge each other in running, jumping, wrestling, and with early forms of weight putting with boulders. Such games also ensured that the Highlanders would keep fit for war.
The exact origins of the games are unknown because after the final battle of the long-running Jacobite Rebellion, life in the Highlands was disrupted and changed forever. The Jacobite Rebellion was dynastic struggle between two different royal houses: the house of Stuart and the house of Hanover, for the rule of Scotland. In 1745, Charles Edward Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, made a final attempt to restore a Stuart king to the throne of Scotland. The Bonnie Prince was only able to rouse 5,000 Highlanders against the 9,000 troops of William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland and son of the Hanoverian king George II, in charge of ending the Stuart bid for the throne. Up until the Battle of Culloden on April 16, 1746, the Young Pretender (Bonnie Prince Charlie) and his Highlanders were undefeated. After Culloden, the English army was eager to enact retribution, and ‘Butcher’ Cumberland ordered that all wounded, as well as any one found near the battle, regardless of age or gender, be killed.
After the defeat of Prince Charles’ Jacobite Highlanders on Culloden Moor, the ruling government’s forces devastated the highlands with new laws designed to make future rebellions impossible. These new laws led to the largest uprooting of Highlanders in history, and a complete alteration of the highland way of life. Highlanders were made to swear an oath to obey the Disarming acts, and the wearing of the kilt and tartan, playing of the pipes and the carrying of arms were all banned. Highland chiefs were stripped of their powers and became mere landlords. With these new laws strictly enforced, the old highland way of life came to an end, and the highland games virtually disappeared.
What are Heavy Athletics? Heavy athletics refer to the athletic events which require significant strength and power; as opposed to the light athletics, which require stamina, such as highland dancing, sprinting, running, and jumping. In general, lightweight persons tend to gravitate toward the light athletics, while the heavyweights excel in heavy athletics. 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; although some strongman competitions are held in conjunction with a heavy athletics competition, and some strongman competitions include highland games events. Scottish heavy athletic events are traditional events involving traditional equipment, whie the strongman events have been mostly invented recently, using modern equipment.
Competition categories: There are two main categories of competition: "professional" and "amateur." The pros are sponsored by the games they enter and/or by the clans they represent and/or any other sponsors they can attract. They compete for prize money. The top American professionals may be invited to compete in Scotland, and around the world
THE EVENTS
| One of the strangest and most ancient games of Bonny Scotland is throwing the caber, than which there is probably no more severe test of muscle and skill. The game has been played by the hardy Scots since the earliest times and is still one of the most featured events on the programs of all athletic contests. The caber is a long section of tree trunk, tapered so that it is noticeably smaller at one end than at the other. The man who essays to test his strength by tossing it raises the pole to a vertical position in his hands, smaller end down, and then throws it into the air and away from him. he must make the large end of the pole hit the ground and the pole fall in such a way that the small end will describe a half circle. The prize goes to the man whose caber, having been thrown in the manner described, lands on the ground with its small end farthest away from the throwing point. Considerable skill is required to make the throw, as well as considerable strength. The caber is likely to fall over sideways instead of straight forward when the large end hits the ground, or it is likely to fall at an angle or even fall back the way it has come. Therefore, everything else being equal, the longest throw is always that which causes the caber to fall straight away |
The "Putting of the Stone" is the same as the Olympic Shot Put except that a smooth rounded stone weighing just over 17 lbs for the men and 11.6 lbs for the women. Then stone is delivered from behind a 6" high x 4'-6" long trig (toeboard) and must be put from in front of the shoulder using one hand only. The throwing area allows a 7'-6" run-up and each competitor is allowed three attempts-the best one to count. Measurement is made from the point on the trig where the throw is made to the nearest break in the ground where the stone lands. touching the top of the trig, or the ground beyond the trig, is a foul. |
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| The "Weight for Distance" is an event where the weights are of metal with a chain and ring handle attached. The total weight of the implement includes the handle is 18" in overall length. The range of weights covers light and heavy weights for women, men and masters classes. The weight is thrown one-handed from behind the same trig as in Putting the Stone, but with a 9 foot run-up allowed. Any style may be used, but the most efficient is to spin like a discus thrower. Touching the top of the trig or any other part of the ground beyond the trig is a foul, whether the weight has been thrown or not. then competitor must still be standing after throwing the weight! Number of throws and measurements is the same for the Stone Putts. |
The Weight for Height is a block or ball weight to which a ring handle is attached. It has a total weight of 28, 42 or 56 lbs. depending on the class of the thrower. The objective is to throw the weight up and over a bar similar to that used in pole vaulting. The competitor is only allowed to use one hand. The starting height of the bar is the lowest requested by the athletes. Competitors may pass until the bar reaches the height where they wish to enter the competition. Once they start to throw, they must compete each time the bar is raised. Each competitor is allowed three attempts to clear the bar at each height. if the weight touches the bar on its way over, but does not dislodge the bar, it is considered a successful throw. if two or more competitors fail at the same height, then the one with fewer misses at the revious height is considered the winner. |
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| The Scottish Hammer is round and made of metal. The handle or shaft is made of cane. Then overall length is 50" and the weight is either 12, 16, or 22 lbs. The hammer is thrown standing style with the thrower's facing away from the throwing area. Thrower's usually take the hammer three times around their heads, before releasing it. First, they make sure their feet are firmly planted on the round, sometimes using blades dug in the ground. Under Scottish rules, their feet must not move until after the hammer is released. The number of throws, measurements and foul rules are the same as the Weights for Distance. |
Sheaf Toss Bringing in the sheaves The sheaf is a #16 or #20 bag of hay (#10 or #12 women), that is tossed over a bar with a three-tyned pitchfork. It is conducted like the #56 weight toss, except it goes about twice as high. Origin: After the haybails 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 preceeded the old mechanized recangular bailer, and then the modern cyllindrical bailer. |
HOW FAR?
Scottish American Athletic Association
Guide to moving up/down classes
Event | Women B to A | Women A to Pro | Men C to B | Men B to A | Men A to Pro |
| Braemar Stone | 21 | 30 | 28 | 31 | 38 |
| Open Stone | 27 | 39 | 32 | 36 | 45 |
| Light Weight For Distance | 45 | 69 | 44 | 52 | 67 |
| Heavy Weight For Distance | 25 | 42 | 21 | 26 | 35 |
| Light Scottish Hammer | 63 | 88 | 79 | 90 | 114 |
| Heavy Scottish Hammer | 50 | 82 | 63 | 73 | 95 |
| Weight Over Bar | 11 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 14 |
It is recommended that you be able to consistently turn the caber for your class in competition before you consider moving up. This is to prevent you from breaking cabers, and to prevent the cabers from breaking you.
Sheaf is not universally contested, so it is not included in this guide.
This is for informational purposes only.
The SAAA assumes that you are mature and responsible enough to know when it is time to move up/down.
"Sandbagging" is not recommended and will be dealt with by the Athletic Director on the field.
What is a tartan? 
In many countries today, the pattern of interlocking stripes called a tartan is often mistakenly known as "plaid." Plaide actually comes from the Gaelic word for a blanket, and is specifically used in the context of Highland dress to refer to a large length of material. The original kilt was known as the "belted plaid" and consisted of a length of cloth (basically a large blanket) that was gathered and belted at the waist. The plaids were most often made from a tartan cloth, and so the confusion between the two terms is understandable.
Tartan refers to the pattern of interlocking stripes, running in both the warp and weft in the cloth (horizontal and vertical), or any representation of such a woven design in other media (printed, painted, or otherwise rendered). Typically today one thinks of "clan tartans" -- that is, tartan designs that represent certain Scottish clans and families. While this is typical, it was not always so.
Tartan has an ancient history. The earliest known tartan in Scotland can be dated to the third or fourth century AD. In other parts of the world, tartan cloth has been found dating to approximately 3000 BC. Virtually everywhere there was woven cloth, people created tartan designs. Yet only in Scotland have they been given such cultural significance. Why?
Originally, tartan designs had no names, and no symbolic meaning. All tartan cloth was hand woven, and usually supplied locally. While it may have been true that certain colors or pattern motifs were more common in some areas than others, no regulated or defined "clan tartan" system ever existed. Tartan, in general, however came to be extremely popular in Scottish Highland culture. So much so that by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, tartan clothing is seen to be characteristic of Highland dress.
Though clan tartans are the most well known, tartans can represent many different things. Some tartans represent families, towns, district, corporations, individuals, events -- you name it! What makes a tartan "official" or "authentic" is not age or antiquity, but whether it has the approval of the governing body of what that tartan represents.
A clan tartan is one that represents your clan. It is not necessarily the tartan that your ancestors would have worn hundreds of years ago. Highlanders traditionally would have selected any tartan they likes from the available sources. You are still free to do the same!
Getting started By Mike Willis
Getting Started - A guide for new throwers.
by Mike Wills on Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:40 am
Mike Wills- Location: Bunker Hill, WV
