50 Fun Facts About Highland Games

What is the large tapered pole tossed at Highland games called?

The word comes from the Gaelic 'cabar', a wooden beam; the pole is usually cut from a larch tree.

What is the ideal result of the pole-tossing event?

Distance does not matter at all; judges score the line of the fall like the hours on a clock face.

A perfect caber toss is scored as what?

A caber that reaches vertical but topples sideways scores 9 or 3; one that falls back to the thrower scores lower than any turned throw.

From what tree is a Scottish caber usually made?

It can be 16 to 20 feet long and weigh 90 to 150 pounds.

The 'Braemar' and 'Open' styles are the two versions of which heavy event, akin to the shot put?

The Braemar version is a standing put with no run-up; the Open Stone allows a glide or spin.

The Scottish ball-on-a-rattan-shaft event is the forerunner of which Olympic event?

The Highland version uses a metal ball on a four-foot wooden or rattan shaft, whirled round the head from a fixed stance.

Why do throwers in the Scottish ball-and-shaft event sometimes wear boots with flat blades on the front?

Unlike Olympic hammer throwers, they may not move their feet, so the blades anchor them against the centrifugal pull.

How heavy is the men's weight in the weight-over-bar event?

That is four stone, or half a hundredweight, tossed one-handed over a horizontal bar.

How many hands may an athlete use to throw the weight over the bar?

The weight is swung between the legs like a pendulum and released at the top of the arc.

In the sheaf toss, a burlap-wrapped bundle of straw is thrown over a bar using what?

The men's sheaf weighs 20 pounds; purists debate whether it is a genuine Highland event or a country-fair import.

What is 'maide-leisg', a strength contest still held at Carloway on the Isle of Lewis?

The Gaelic name means 'lazy stick'; a similar contest, mas-wrestling, is popular among the Yakuts of Siberia.

The keg toss, now a Highland and strongman staple, developed mainly from games in which country?

An empty half-barrel is heaved over a bar with both hands; World's Strongest Man introduced an eight-keg version in 2010.

The heavy weight in the weight-for-distance event weighs how much for men?

The light weight is 28 pounds; the implement is thrown one-handed by its handle, usually with a spin.

Which 11th-century Scottish king reputedly staged a Braemar hill race to find his fastest messenger?

The runners raced up Craig Choinnich; the modern Braemar Gathering claims descent from those games.

The modern Highland games are largely a development of which century?

They emerged after the Jacobite risings and the ban on Highland dress had been lifted.

In which year was the 1747 Dress Act banning civilian kilts repealed?

The romantic revival of Highland culture followed in the early 19th century.

Which monarch first attended the Braemar Gathering, on 14 September 1848?

The reigning monarch has been patron of the Braemar Royal Highland Society ever since and is styled Chieftain of the games.

The first modern Braemar games with cash prizes were held in which year?

The Braemar Highland Society was formed in 1815 and added 'Royal' to its name in 1866.

The Cowal Highland Gathering, Scotland's largest games, is held in which town?

It draws around 3,500 competitors and 23,000 spectators every August; paddle steamers from Glasgow first made it popular.

Which world title has been decided at the Cowal Gathering every year since 1934?

The title is sanctioned by the Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing at juvenile, junior and adult levels.

Which 1906 trophy from Princess Louise still goes to the winning Grade 1 pipe band at Cowal?

She was Duchess of Argyll; the pipe band contest for Army bands started that same year.

The Northern Hemisphere's oldest and largest Highland gathering, held since 1866, is in which US state?

The Scottish Highland Gathering and Games at Pleasanton drew close to 50,000 for its 150th edition in 2015.

The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games, drawing some 30,000 people, are held in which US state?

Agnes MacRae Morton and Donald MacDonald founded them in 1956; the state was a magnet for Highland emigrants after the Clearances.

Which Olympic founder was reportedly inspired by Highland games at the 1889 Paris Exhibition?

He was then planning the revival of the Olympic Games, first held in Athens in 1896.

Roughly how many annual Highland games events were being held worldwide as of 2000?

More than 100 of them were in the United States and dozens more in Canada.

Which 19th-century Aberdeenshire strongman, Scottish champion for 21 years, entered 11,000+ events?

He excelled at everything from hurdles and pole vault to caber tossing and wrestling.

The pair of lifting stones reportedly carried across Potarch Bridge in 1860 weigh how much together?

The larger stone is 414.5 pounds and the smaller 318.5; the bridge crossing was just over 17 feet.

What was the original purpose of the Dinnie Stones?

They were selected in the 1830s and still sit outside the Potarch Hotel for challengers to lift.

British shot putter and strongman Geoff Capes won how many Highland Games world titles?

He took the first in Lagos in 1981 and the last in 1987, alongside two World's Strongest Man wins.

The great Highland bagpipe has how many drones?

Two tenor drones and one bass drone, all tuned to A, plus a chanter with a nine-note scale.

Pipe band competitions, closely tied to the games, date back to which year?

The 2013 World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow drew over 8,000 pipers and drummers.

Which two tunes are typically played by the massed pipe bands at a Highland games?

As many as 20 or more bands march together at the opening and closing ceremonies.

Which of these Highland dances is danced in a special outfit rather than a kilt?

The Irish Jig and the Hornpipe have their own costumes; the other three are danced in the kilt.

What does the name of the dance 'Seann Triubhas' mean in Gaelic?

One story says the leg-sweeping steps show a dancer shaking off the hated trews imposed after the kilt ban.

The Sword Dance performed at the games is also known by what Gaelic name?

The dancer steps around and over two crossed swords.

The Highland Fling may have begun as a showcase of steps from which social dance?

It gained popularity as a solo dance in the early 19th century.

In which decade did English Quaker Thomas Rawlinson devise the modern small kilt?

He found the belted great kilt 'cumbrous and unwieldy' and separated the pleated skirt into a garment of its own.

In what form was Highland dress first recorded in the 16th century?

The upper half of the great kilt could be draped over the shoulder or pulled over the head.

Tug of war, a common Highland games team event, was part of the Summer Olympics until which year?

It featured from 1900 to 1920 with teams typically of eight.

Highland games in North America date back to which year in New York?

Nova Scotia followed by at least 1863; the Scottish diaspora worldwide numbers about 50 million.

Where was the Braemar Gathering actually filmed for The Crown's 'The Balmoral Test'?

Neil Munro had satirised the games phenomenon as early as 1904 in his Erchie MacPherson stories.

Which strongman broke the weight-over-bar world record a thirteenth time in 2026, at 6.20 m?

The 56-pound weight is thrown one-armed for height; the event entered World's Strongest Man in 1980.

How many pipers and drummers took part in the 2013 World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow?

Pipe band contests date back to 1781 and are closely intertwined with the games.

Roughly how many spectators attend the New Hampshire Highland Games and Festival each year?

That exceeds Scotland's own largest games, the Cowal Gathering, which draws around 23,000.

Which country issued a 45-cent 'Highland Games' postage stamp on 1 August 1997?

The stamps were designed by Fraser Ross from photographs by Andrew Balfour.

In which Canadian province had Highland games been held by at least 1863?

New York had hosted games even earlier, in 1836.

A 16th-century English exercise similar to the caber toss was known as what?

Sweden has a comparable sport called stangstortning.

Roughly how heavy is a Scottish caber?

The larch pole is typically 16 to 20 feet tall.

Who tossed a 60 kg Braemar challenge caber to 12 o'clock at the 1976 World Caber Tossing Championships?

Edmunds also holds a distance record of 13.24 metres with a 40 kg caber.

What title does the reigning British monarch hold at the Braemar Gathering?

Since Queen Victoria's time the monarch has been patron of the Braemar Royal Highland Society.