The Braemar Games

Two weeks ago, I met up with the Scottish Exchange Club to venture up north to the town of Braemar for the very famous Braemar Highland Games (more specifically called The Braemar Gathering and Highland Games). The exchange club is comprised of Scots who once went on a teaching exchange to American, Australia, or Canada. I'm sure they would include anyone who has taught abroad but those seem to be the only places anyone has traveled. I certainly hope there is an exchange club at home because it was so nice to be sought out by this group who arrange a variety of outings for any current exchangees in Scotland. I met a number of Australians teaching in the area and listened to the Scots beat themselves up about how they have failed to track down the visiting Canadians. What a lovely idea....

So early Saturday, September 5, I headed off with two Scots and one Aussie (but met up with about 10 more!). The weather was not promising but, let's be honest, the weather never is very promising here. We were prepared with warm layers, boots, and rain jackets. As we entered the low highlands, we drove through hills lined with freshly blooming purple heather. Apparently only in bloom for a few weeks each year, even the Scots thought the heather was the most beautiful it has looked in years. They probably say that every year to the new exchangees.

What are Highland Games? Good question. Highland Games are a sort of track and field set of events with a very Scottish twist. There is a hammer throw, track sprints, and the long jump. Those are pretty normal sounding events for the most part. More unique events include the hill run where contestants do a lap around the main track before heading up to the top of one of the neighboring hills. This is a HILL. Once they reach the top, smoke is sent up signaling that the first person has reached the top and is starting his (or her) descent back to the main field. The real interesting bit is watching them come back down the hill. Going up, the runners must follow a designated path; on the way down, no holds barred. Though only really visible with the help of binoculars, watching the runners basically fall/run down the hill was amazing. And they do the whole thing in about 30-40 minutes.

Members of Her Majesties Armed Forces compete in a massive tug o'war competition throughout the day as well. It really puts Field Day at MEH in perspective. I think we all really need to start training our kids a bit earlier to make a real contest of it. Each team even has a coach to get them into a pulling rhythm. In the midst of the running, hammer throws, tug o'wars, etc. on the field is a little stage where children and teenagers dressed in delightfully colorful kilts compete for the title of Best Dancer (in different categories and age groups of course). Additionally, pipe bands from all over take the field every 20 minutes or so to compete for the title of champion Pipe Band. All in all, a very odd conglomeration of competitions going on at the same time.

There are highland games all over the country (and the world for that matter). But what makes Braemar so famous is that the Queen always makes an appearance for at least an hour - just in time for the tossing of the Caber. What's that? I haven't mentioned the caber yet? So sorry... Basically, big strong men pick up what looks like a skinny telephone pole (called a caber) and have to toss it so that it flips over at the 12 o'clock angle. It was amazing how quickly we all became experts on what angle the caber fell at. (yes, I ended with a preposition - I'm over it) Even more amazing, none of the other events made room or cleared out once the caber started getting tossed. A few times, the caber definitely did not fall in the desired direction causing a bit of excitement on the sprinting track.

As I peered through the binoculars at the Royal Family from our perfectly lined up grassy patch directly across from the Royal box (did I mention the exchange club has gone to the Braemar Games a few times and knows how to work the system?), it came to my attention that not only was the queen in attendance (with Phillip, of course) but so was Prince Charles and Princess Anne! I even waved at Phillip who looked like he was peering my way with his binoculars. He did not return the sentiment. Oh, well...

To check out more about the games, you can head to http://www.braemargathering.org/index.html. I will try to get pictures up tomorrow so you all can look at the events in action. We ended the day in the town pub rubbing elbows with the participants and listening to wandering pipers. Definitely worth seeing if you are ever in Scotland for the first Saturday of September.