Swinging an antique sword wildly above his head as the rain bucketed down Sunday, Gregor Edmunds stood atop the podium, the newly crowned champion of the World Highland Games. For the first time in 12 years, the competition returned to Scotland, so it was only fitting for a Glaswegian to win it.
Of the 12 linebacker-sized men clad in Tartan kilts, the 193cm and 130kg Edmunds proved the most consistent over eight tests of strength. They ranged from throwing stones, weights and hammers for both distance and height to the iconic caber toss in which competitors try to flip a 6m, 55kg pole.
For a Scottish tradition that ranks alongside bagpipes and haggis - both in abundant supply last weekend - one detail seemed odd. Behind the podium, five American flags blew in the wind.
They represented the five Americans in the field. Over the past century, Highland sports have found a niche in the US, which now produces some of the top competitors in the world. The US has more Highland Games and Scottish festivals than any country in the world with more than 200 events a year, blending the atmospheres of a track meet and a county fair.
"It's just really caught on in the US," said Harrison Bailey III, a Highland Games athlete and high school principal from Easton, Pennsylvania. "I think we have such a strong track and field presence in the US that a lot of guys make that transition."
In Scotland, however, the traditional sports have been on a steady decline. David Webster, the secretary general of the World Federation of Heavy Events, acknowledged that there was cause for concern, but no fear of Highland sports dying.
"They've been around for 1,000 years and they'll keep on being with us," he said. "But it is getting harder and harder to find sponsorship."
Webster, a 78-year-old retired gym teacher, has been organizing games since 1946. Wearing a kilt, bonnet and woolly knee socks - complete with a hunting knife tucked in the side - he paced around the field, serving as commentator for the events and recounting the history of the games to anyone who would listen.
The earliest records of Highland games date to the 11th century when, as the story goes, King Malcolm Canmore of Scotland wanted to find the fastest man in his clan because he needed a messenger. So he organized a hill race and while the villagers waited for the runners to come down, they passed the time by throwing stones and weights.
Clan chieftains also used the games to find their strongest men, Webster said. That way, each chieftain had his champion and could challenge those in other clans as a substitute for battles.
Highland games were eventually formalized in the 19th century. Sir Walter Scott, author of Ivanhoe, arranged a display for the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh in 1822. It included a meeting of the clans, a piping competition, traditional dancing and the heavy throwing events, which are the four elements required for any games today.
The sport soon became a cultural export. In 1889, a party of Scots was invited to the Paris Exposition to put on a Highland games show. Sitting in the crowd was Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who created the modern Olympics five years later.
"He included putting the stone, throwing the weight for distance, the pole vault, throwing the hammer - all good Scottish things - having seen them there," Webster said.
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