Great Scots — Highland Games test skill, strength of competitors

Back in the far reaches of Scottish history, qualities such as strength, determination and fierce competitiveness were not only desirable, they were essential — if one were to fight off invaders, overcome warring clans and survive daily life in general.

Those traditions have come down through the ages, manifest today in Highland Games competitions, which are held not only in Scotland but also in other parts of the world.

Kilted competitors get together to test their strength and skill in contests that involve throwing various weights for distance, height and accuracy. Most familiar is probably the caber toss, in which athletes heft a "telephone pole" around the field. Other events include shot-put-like tosses of stones and weights, and the tossing of various weights over a bar.

Most of the games involve a skill that would have been useful in battle, said Jeff Loosle, a Utah Highland gamer, who holds the world record in the master's class (over age 40) weight-over-bar event. "These are among the oldest games in the world."

Some legends trace the origins back to the period of Roman invasion in the second and third centuries, when Scottish warriors were said to have displayed their bravery and strength by performing feats of skill in front of the opposing army. Others say they were informal athletic tests that enabled clan chiefs and kings to examine the skills of their clansmen.

"Some say the first official Highland Games were held after Robert the Bruce returned from fighting the English. The games were a victory celebration," said Loosle, who enjoys the historic aspect of the games and sees how these skills would have been useful. Take the sheath toss, for example, which involves using a pitchfork to toss a bag of hay over a pole. Light that bag on fire and toss it over a castle wall, and you could do some serious damage, notes Loosle.

And there's the caber (caber is Gaelic for pole) toss. "They say foresters used to throw cabers across creeks they had to cross," he explained. "If they threw it accurately, one side would land on the other side of the creek, and they could walk over with dry feet. If you were a lousy thrower, you got wet feet."

As fun as the history is, however, the competition and the camaraderie among the athletes is equally exciting, said Loosle, and it's very easy to get hooked on it. "It starts as fun. Then it becomes a passion," he joked. "And then you become obsessed. That's like me."