Women's Highland Athletic Competition — Florida Keys Celtic Festival - Celebrating Celtic Heritage in the Florida Keys (2024)

The original Strongman sport, will be contested and demonstrated on Saturday by athletes organized by transplanted Scotsman, now Floridian, Robert Gourlay. The origins of Scottish games are lost in the mists of history, but they still reflect the rugged strength of the Highlanders who invented them.

The Games may have evolved from a need to train for hand-to-hand combat, or to determine the most battle-worthy warriors; today they are good-natured tests of strength in which honor and sportsmanship are valued as much, if not more, than winning.

The Scottish Heavy Athletics Women’s Open Competition is one of only a handful of Florida events officially sanctioned for women’s competition and The FKCF is only one of two festivals in the nation to feature a Women's Only competition.

Open Stone Put

This event is similar to the shot put of track and field, except a stone is used that weighs 8 pounds. It is called “open” style because any style of putting is allowed, with the “spin” and “glide” styles being the most popular. The throwing area is a box 4’6” wide and 7’6” long. The thrower must keep one foot inside the box; a foul is called if the thrower steps over the back line or inside face of the trig.

Weight for Distance

The weight can be either block or spherical shaped with links and a handle. The overall length of this weight cannot exceed 18”. The heavy weight is 28 pounds; the light weight is 14 pounds. The weight is thrown with one hand in a throwing area 4’6” x 9’. The thrower must keep one foot inside this area; a foul is called if the thrower steps over the back line or inside face of the trig.

Hammer Throw

The “hammer” has a lead or steel head with a bamboo or rattan handle affixed through a hole in the head. The overall length cannot exceed 50”. The athlete stands behind the trig with her back to the throwing area, winds the hammer around the head and releases over her shoulder. The athlete’s feet must remain in a fixed position until the hammer is released. Boots with blades attached to the front of them are usually worn to keep the feet on the ground and in a fixed position. There are two different weights of hammers used: 16 pounds and 12 pounds. Today’s competitors will be throwing the Light Hammer.

Caber Toss

The caber is a tree that has been cut and trimmed down so one end is slightly wider than the other. It can vary in length -- in our competition this length is 15’ -- and vary in weight -- our cabers are 60 pounds. The smaller end is rounded off so it will be easy to cup in the thrower’s hands. The caber is stood up for the thrower with the large end up. The thrower hoists the caber up and cups the small end in her hands. She takes a short run with the caber, then stops and pulls the caber so that the large end hits the ground and the small end flips over and faces away from her. The caber is scored for accuracy as though the thrower is facing the 12:00 position on a clock face. A judge standing behind the thrower calls how close to the 12:00 position the small end of the caber lands, 12:00 being a perfect toss. If the caber is not turned, a side judge calls the degrees of the angle the caber makes with the ground.

Sheaf Toss

The sheaf is a large burlap or plastic bag stuffed with 10 pounds of either chopped rope, straw, or mulch. The sheaf is tossed over a cross bar with a pitch fork. Three attempts are allowed at each height. If the thrower misses all three tries at one height, then she is out of the competition. Weight for Height (Weight over Bar) The implement used in Weight for Height is the same as used for Weight for Distance (28 pounds), except it is shorter. The weight is tossed over a cross bar with one hand. Three attempts are allowed at each height. If the thrower misses all three tries at one height, then she is out of the competition.