Every now and then in the world of Hacker Athletics* comes around an event that is just too good to pass by. I have had several of these in my lifetime like doing my first marathon with less than 6 months of training-none of it long distance. I was asked, and did, a 1000 meter inline skate race around the Dominguez Hills velodrome during a cycling event. I have, on a whim, raced in a couple 100+ mile inline races; Fresno to Bakersfield at 138 miles and from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to the beach in Santa Cruz, 100 miles away. I would also have to include my Olympic style lifting efforts proudly as Hacker even though I have not yet competed in the sport.

(I was going to include Crossfit in my hacker athletic career but it really needs to be considered a recognized sport in order to pass the muster. As my friend Mike pointed out, to paraphrase, air squats are not considered a sport).

The 2008 United Scottish Society Highland Games at Costa Mesa was one of those Hacker Athletic events for me. Please keep in mind, there is no disrespect to the other participants or the games themselves. I am the Hacker, but more about that later.

The Scottish Heavy Athletics is part of the Scottish competitions called the Highland Games. If you don’t know much about the Highland Games you probably have at least seen the Caber Toss.

When my three chances to heave the caber came, that missile never left the launch pad. I have nothing to add to that. Mark that as a “scratch”. Speaking of scratch, the first event of the day was called the Heavy Hammer. I scratched that too, by fouling on all three attempts. One foul got style points for the way I bounced off my head. Allow me to show you what the Heavy Hammer looks like when it is done right. It is really a thing of beauty.

We enjoyed other challenging events including a couple types of stone tosses with what is called a Braemer Stone. These are of difference weights and different rules for throwing them, but both are measured for distance.

Other events included Weight Over Bar for height, the Heavy Hammer, the Light Hammer, the Light
Weight For distance and of course the main attraction, at least for the spectators, the Caber Toss.

Mike Covert covers these events well, with pictures at Clandestine Experience. I also have some pictures of our fellow Highlanders as well as some Highland games exclusive video.

Basically, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing but had a helluva good time doing it with a great bunch of Group C guys. (I would say Class C guys but for some reason that just doesn’t sound right. Some of those were from my gym, Met-Rx, including Mike Covert, pro strongman athlete, Scott “Circus Boy” Brengel and two of his proteges, Pete Danahy and Kevin. Another cool dude, Peter, while new to Met-Rx is an experienced Highland Games competitor and a heck of a nice guy besides. There were three 17 year old kids, two over 6′5″ and 300# and the other, a high school thrower. There were a couple other quiet guys that just went about their business rather well. I got plenty of help from these guys and the event officials, Nathan and TJ who were very generous with their time and tips.

Additional support, lunch and camera work game from Valerie, her sister and niece and Mike’s girl, Torri, the kettlebell painter.

As I write this, I am still gassed. Would I do this again? Sure. It IS a big man’s sport, but one of the two things that impressed me the most about the Games is the technical aspect of each event. Tricky stuff. The other, I already alluded to and that is the camaraderie in our group. Everyone gave and got a lot of support and we all had a great time.

Peter, Mike, Mark & Pete

*More on Hacker Athletics in another post.

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