Strength From The Highlands Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Strength From The Highlands: Weight Over Bar

Posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2017 by John Wood

Another great even in the Highland Games is the “Weight Over Bar.” Just like it sounds, a 56 pound weight is tossed as high as possible with a “good” throw clearing the crossbar above. Shown here is Paul Bidwell, successfully clearing 16 feet on his third attempt at the 10th annual Delaware Highland Games in Fair Hill, MD on June 5th, 1971 (a new World Record at the time.)

Strength From The Highlands: Scottish Hammer Throwing

Posted on Thursday, June 16th, 2016 by John Wood

The Scottish Hammer is an event in traditional Highland Games Heavy Athletics. The ‘Hammer’ itself is a length of rattan or wood with a weighted spherical head. There are actually two different types of Scottish Hammer records kept: heavy and light. For Men, the heavy hammer weighs 22 pounds and the light hammer weighs in at 16 pounds.) For Women, the heavy hammer is 16 pounds and the light hammer is 12 pounds.

The Hammer is wound around the body and thrown from a standing position. An interesting modern development is that athletes now wear boots with long spikes in them to anchor themselves to the ground which allows them to generate more rotational force.

The current World records are as follows:

Men’s Heavy Hammer: Daniel McKim: 132′ 2.75″
Men’s Light Hammer: Daniel McKim: 157′ 7.25″

Women’s Heavy Hammer: Valerie Adams: 99′ 1″
Women’s Light Hammer: Shannon Hartnett: 120′ 1″

Strength From The Highlands: Caber Tossing

Posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2016 by John Wood

Caber tossing is one of the most famous events at the Scottish Highland Games. A caber is a log, usually made of pine or larch, which the competitor stands upright and then hoists end over end. Scoring is not based on height or distance thrown but how closely their throws approximate the ideal 12 o’clock toss on an imaginary clock. If successful, the athlete is said to have “turned” the caber.

If no one can ‘turn’ a particular caber, it can be cut down a bit to give a better opportunity to do so but a caber that has been successfully turned remains intact from that point forward. Since cabers are made from natural wood, each one differs in length, weight, taper, and balance, offering a unique challenge.