World class strongman coming to Brodick
This year the Brodick Highland Games will see one of the toughest fields of heavy athletes in the event’s history at Ormidale Park next Saturday.
Leading the field is seven-time Scotland’s strongest man Jamie Barr, who is also bringing the world famous McGlashan Stones, lifted by the likes of Jon Paul Sigmarson, Geoff Capes and Magnus Ver Magnuson, to name a few. There are five stones in total, spherical in shape, and ranging from 90kg-130kg. They are lifted from the ground onto large whisky barrels. This event has been the final event in the world’s strongest man competition for more than 20 years in one form or another.
Made from Scottish sandstone, the McGlashen Stones have travelled far and wide in their challenge to the world’s top strength athletes and are visiting Arran for the first time.
As well as his multiple Scotland’s strongest man titles, Jamie has competed at the world’s strongest man competition twice, once in Malta and once in Morocco. In addition to the McGalshan Stones, he is bringing the ‘farmers walk’ equipment for the audience to get a chance to feel how heavy they are before the athletes attempt to lift them. Jamie is a very accomplished athlete in Highland games, recently competing for the world masters championship.
As well as Jamie and the stones, the pre-entries to the open heavy events at the games, to be held on Saturday August 6, is excellent with more in-form athletes than ever before.
The entries so far include:
Ernie Weir
A local man, Ernie is now in his 10th year competing and has improved his distances and technique every year. He has had nine competitions under his belt this year so far. He feels that he is reaching a peak now at the right time. He is a good all-rounder but specialises in the caber, which is unsurprising as he works all day as a forester, driving a harvester. He provides cabers to some of the top games around Scotland. Standing 6ft 2in tall and 240lbs, he is a big man. He feels that he will produce his best distances this year and be able to unseat Scott Clark. Could 2016 be the year of the Weir?
Steven King
Seven-time world caber tossing champion and former world record holder in the 16lb and 22lb hammers, and defending open champion at Brodick. Steven is always in good shape and will be difficult to beat this year. He possesses incredible natural strength and, at over 6ft tall and 20 stone, he is a formidable athlete. He is very capable of breaking some of the ground records at Brodick this year.
Pete Hart
Standing 6ft 4in tall and 336lbs (24 stone) in weight, Pete is a gi-
ant of a man. He is the heaviest man competing in the event, but not the tallest. He is incredibly powerful. Because of this his favoured events are the weight over the bar and the caber, so this should be a good competition for him. Pete is originally from New Zealand but came to Scotland in 1994, married a bonnie Scots lass and has been resident ever since. He can be very jovial but behind that he is very competitive and will want to win.
Craig Nicholson
Craig, from Oban, is in his fifth full season of throwing in Highland games and has chalked up some impressive victories at Lochaline Games and Glenurquhart Games. At 6ft 7in and 19 and a half stone, with an athletic build, he has all the tools to be a great thrower. Last year Craig broke the 100ft (33 metres) mark with the 22lb (10kg) hammer – a world class distance. Because of his height and long arms he has an amazing hammer technique which it is wonderful to watch.
He has become a dad very recently, so hopefully sleepless nights and late-night feeds (for the baby, not him!) won’t effect his throwing throughout this season.
Scott Clark
From Brodick, Scott is the smallest man in the open line-up at 5ft 10in and around 15 stone but don’t let that fool you. Scott has made a career of beating bigger athletes and thrives on it. He pretends that he is not but he is incredibly competitive and will use any slip-up by the bigger athletes to his advantage and will not be slow in letting them know it either. In the past the hammer was a good event for Scott but injury has forced him to focus training on some of the other events.
He has won at Brodick on many occasions and, even though he is 44, you would not bet against him managing a victory in 2016.
Tom and Rory Gilmore
There is another important heavy competition going on at in the heavy events arena: Gilmore vs Gilmore as Tom takes on younger brother Rory. This will be the first time the pair have thrown against each other in two years, with Tom winning in their previous meeting in 2014. A sports rivalry to compare to Muhammad Ali and Joe Fraser – though some feel more like Venus and Serena Williams – Rory may fancy his chances this year with the introduction of the McGlashan Stones.
It is competitors like Tom and Rory who help to make the games. It is daunting enough to be throwing alongside some of the world class throwers, never mind in front of 4,000 or so spectators, so if you are lucky enough to be there cheer them on.