Thrown together

Scottish games love story makes a wee fine tale

Couple’s love story began while competing at Scottish festivals

CAMBRIDGE — He’s muscle. She’s finesse. They’re both good at throwing heavy things. This makes them the perfect Scottish couple.

Neil and Heidi Lowry basked in sunshine at Saturday’s Cambridge Scottish Festival, where Neil competed and Heidi watched, enjoying her retirement after competing in heavy events for a decade.

Heavy events is the Scottish sport in which kilted men and women toss heavy things including logs, stones, hammers and sacks of twine.

“You want to go far or you want to go high,” Heidi said.

Heidi first tried heavy events on a dare, after an injury ended her run as a top beach volleyball athlete. She fell in love with the sport and with the man she met while competing. Now they’re a family of five, into all things Scottish.

This put them in good company Saturday, where crowds thrilled to the massed bands and the glory of bagpipes and clans at Churchill Park.

Ted Kaiser and Sara Meurling attended from Toronto with their children.

“It’s a family tradition to be in touch with Scottish culture,” Ted said. He’s thrilled by bagpipes. “It just inspires me. It makes me excited and proud,” he said.

Sara enjoys the heavy events. “I like to see brawny men in kilts,” she said.

Throwing heavy things is a tradition in which Scots proved their worth as soldiers.

Today it’s a sport that rewards strength and technique.

Heidi Lowry studied technique and achieved international success in the sport before retiring from competition last year.

She worked on fine movements that affect a stance and a throw. Her volleyball skills helped her master explosive movement that’s part of throwing.

Neil Lowry approaches the sport differently. He’s competed for 18 years. “I have a strong back due to the farm,” he said.

“I’m lucky to be able to grip it and rip it. My technique is minimal compared to my strength.”

The couple is from Almonte in eastern Ontario, where she teaches and he farms.

“I’ve travelled around the world. We’ve both thrown in Scotland. We’ve thrown in the States. We’ve thrown all over Canada,” Heidi said.

“It’s been a real blessing in my life, for sure. It happened as a dare.”

PHOTOS BY DAVID BEBEE, RECORD STAFF Neil Lowry and his wife Heidi met as competitors on the heavy events circuit of Scottish festivals, throwing objects such as wood and stone.

Berle Conrad of Harrietsville, Ont., wins the open sheath toss with this throw of a 20 lb sheath 31 feet vertically over a bar during the heavy events.

DAVID BEBEE, RECORD STAFF Pipers march in the massed bands final at the Cambridge Scottish Festival at Churchill Park.

DAVID BEBEE, RECORD STAFF Amateur competitor Matthew Fast of Coburg used this personal best throw of 112.8 feet to win the 16-pound lightweight hammer throw event.