Scottish immigrants spread their traditions as far as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But Webster said it was Donald Dinnie who firmly established Highland games during tours in the US, inspiring a group of amateur athletes in New York.
Last weekend, there was one New Yorker taking on the Scots. David Barron, a Manhattan lawyer, competes in 10 to 15 games a year.
"The guy who wins this weekend will make £1,000 (US$2,032), maybe £2,000," he said. "And that's on the high end. You've got to be doing it for the love of it."
His fellow American Sean Betz, a personal trainer from Omaha, Nebraska, said that even without the high stakes of most world-class sporting events, Highland games provided a better atmosphere for competition.
"There's no animosity at all," he said. "You're not as nervous and you're not rooting for people to mess up."
The caber toss was the last event on the schedule and the rain-sodden fans were rewarded with a Scottish victory Sunday. Edmunds's throw was good enough to defeat the five-time champion Ryan Vierra, a professional Highland games athlete of Hilmar, California. What the championship lacked in prize money, it more than made up for by staying true to the sport's local roots. Edmunds put down his sword for a moment and waved his trophy in the air: a bottle of 25-year-old Scotch.
The only thing threatening to overshadow the championships was a caber thief. Last week, while the poles were being soaked in a local loch to attain the necessary weight, one of them was stolen. The perpetrator and 6m pole are still at large.
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