39th Drumtochty Highland Games: Pipe Bands and Drum Majors

Hearing the pipe bands was a big thrill for me.  There were 3 bands at the games, Lonach, Newtonhill and Mearns.  Each band had a drum major who shared the honor of leading the bands at separate times around the field.

Love his hat.

The drum major doesn't direct, he just stands there looking superior.

Drummer

There were several women in all the bands.

Three Drum Majors leading the combined bands.

Our band from Newtonhill.

The 3 drum majors did a demonstration of their skills, as well as a Mace Flourishing competition, unfortunately, one of them failed to catch his mace after a throw.  There was an individual piper competition, but we were too busy watching everything else, and missed it.

Drumtochy Highland Games: Community Events for the Win

I won!  tossing dice must be my sport!

 While the competitions were taking place in the field, the outside track area was set up with tents where vendors plied their wares, food was sold and charities had games of chance to raise funds.  The local Rotary Club held a dice toss; 2 for a Pound or 5 for 2 Pounds.  I gave them my pound, tossed the dice and on the second try, won a tiny bottle of Whisky!  I only had 4 matches, but if I had matched 6, the big bottle of Whisky would have come home with me!

39th Drumtochty Highland Games: Tug-o-War

The Scottish Tug-o-War Association is a 6 man 480 kgs competition.  The Scottish section is open to competitors who were born in Scotland or have been a permanent resident for 3 years.

After much too and fro, this is the team who won.

For a while, it looked like these fellows would win, but it wasn't to be.

I never thought of tug-o-war as such a serious game, but believe me, after watching this competition, I know it's dead serious.  All of the teams had coaches who would walk up and down the line giving directions and encouragement.  The teams obviously practice a lot!  They would move in unison, stamping their feet into the ground for traction.  Of course, before the game started, the officials inspected each players boots to be sure there were no spikes to help with traction.

Each pair of teams did two pulls, switching sides between pulls. If they each won, then there was a third pull to decide the winner.  It was played round robin style, so there were 5 teams competing.  The longest game lasted probably 15 minutes, with both sides dug in for the long haul.  They seemed to be waiting for the other to tire before stomping and pulling. It was all quite impressive!

39th Drumtochty Highland Games: Highland Dancing

While all the men were competing around the field, the Highland Dance competition was taking place under a large shade toward on end.  They had their own piper to play.  There were 10 events, all different dance forms.   The competitors were divided into Primary, Beginner and Novice, Intermediate, and Premier; all of which were then divided by age group.

The dancing was on a wooden stage, which really accented the piper's foot tapping on several of the songs.  Some of the dances involved costume changes, too.

We talked to one of the dancer's Mum, who was filming her daughter, then, also spoke to the daughter, who was one of the premier dancers, 15 and under.  She was quite the athlete, to keep dancing all day long!

None of them are touching the ground.

The girl in purple is the one we talked to.

Not knowing anything about Highland Dancing, it was hard for us to tell who was best.

The dancing started at noon and was still going stong when we left about 5.  The girls were looking a bit tired, but still could jump high!

39th Drumtochty Highland Games; Scottish Competitions

Having never been to Highland Games, we didn't know what to expect.  Rae and Marty suggested Drumtochty because it was smaller and more of a community event.  They were right!

The setting is in the Glen of Drumtochty Castle, which is usually the home to a herd of red deer, who were relocated for the games.  It has been held here since 1977, when it was started to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee and now it is the 61st Anniversary of her Coronation.

The Scottish competition was already going when we arrived, but it was for the younger group.  This is a way for new comers to get experience in the competition. The heavy weight group included some of the younger competitors as well.  The man who won the younger group, did very well against the older competitors. The winners qualify for entrance in the the Big Highland Games at Braemar, which the Royal Family usually attends.

Some of the games were: 22 lb and 56 lb Hammer, 28 lb shot putt, 178 lb Caber toss.  The items they played with were different than what we had seen before.  One of the hammers look like a large sledge hammer. The other hammer is a paint can size piece of lead, with a handle attached.  It is swung through the legs, backwards over the head, to make it over a board that is 13 feet in the air.  The shot put has a chain on it that is swung around 4 time then let fly, but the competitor's feet are stuck to the ground so they can't turn around.  All of them look a bit complicated and in some cases, dangerous; especially the backward toss over the stick!

Letting the shot putt fly.

Tossing the Caber.

The Caber is level, then will flip end over end, landing at a 12 o'clock position.                                      

Most of the competitors did not make the hammer go over the pole.  It's a very tricky thing to do! 

A successful Caber toss.  This man won both competitions.

All of the men competing wore kilts.  Their shirts had the logo of Glenfiddish Whisky, who are the main sponsor of the several games held around Scotland.  The shoes and socks were obviously left to personal choice.  I especially likes the tall black and white striped.