World Highland Games Championships

World Highland Games Championships
2016
Tournament information
Location Varies (last held in Anchorage, Alaska)
Established 1980
Format Multi-event competition
Current champion
United States Dan McKim

The World Highland Games Championships is a well recognised event in both strength athletics and Highland Games. The championships were organized by David Webster, OBE of Scotland, who still conducts the World Championships. A roll of past competitors includes many of the World's greatest strength athletes with Olympic finalists, World Record Holders, Commonwealth Games medal winners, Guinness Book of Record entrants, physique champions, continental & national title holders, World's Strongest Men and International legends in various sports.[1] The World Highland Games Championships consist of traditional events and are in this sense differentiated from many of the other international strength athletic competitions, including the Highlander World Championships.

History

The World Highland Games Championships were first held in 1980 and were created as an attempt to identify who was truly the greatest Highland Games competitor. Many of the Highland Games competitions around the world have traditionally not been invitational, in the sense that novices can step up to compete, or at the more established events the competitors were very much more selected from the nation in which the competition was held. The world's introduced a formalisation of the requirements for entry and a truly international flavour.

Over the years competitors have been drawn from the disciplines of field athletics, including the shot put, discuss and hammer throw, as well as strength athletes and dedicated Highland Games specialists. In the first three decades of the competition there have been thirteen champions, with four men each having won the title five times, Geoff Capes, Jim McGoldrick, Ryan Vierra and Matt Sandford, and one of those, Geoff Capes, having also won the 1981 World Highland Games Championships held in Lagos, which would make him six times world champion, although this is not listed on the official website.[2]

List of champions

List information taken from this source.[3]

Year Champion Location
1980 Scotland Grant Anderson United States Los Angeles, California, United States
1981 England Geoff Capes Nigeria Lagos, Nigeria[2]
1981 Scotland Bill Anderson Australia Melbourne, Australia
1982 Scotland Grant Anderson Scotland Prestonpans, Scotland
1983 England Geoff Capes Scotland Carmunnock, Scotland[2]
1984 England Geoff Capes Scotland Carmunnock, Scotland
1985 England Geoff Capes Scotland Carmunnock, Scotland
1986 England Geoff Capes Scotland Carmunnock, Scotland
1987 England Geoff Capes Scotland Clarkston, Scotland
1988 United States Jim McGoldrick Scotland Aviemore, Scotland
1989 United States Jim McGoldrick Scotland Aviemore, Scotland
1990 United States Jim McGoldrick Scotland Glasgow, Scotland
1991 United States Jim McGoldrick Scotland Callander, Scotland
1992 Australia Jo Quigley Australia Callander, Scotland
1993 United States Jim McGoldrick Scotland Callander, Scotland
1994 Scotland George Patience Scotland Callander, Scotland
1995 Scotland Alistair Gunn Scotland Kilmarnock, Scotland
1996 United States Ryan Vierra New Zealand Waipu, New Zealand
1997 United States Ryan Vierra United States Fredericksburg, Virginia
1998 United States Ryan Vierra Finland Oulu, Finland
1999 Australia Matt Sandford United States Pleasanton, California
2000 Australia Matt Sandford New Zealand Waipu, New Zealand
2001 Australia Matt Sandford United States Pleasanton, California
2002 Australia Matt Sandford United States Pleasanton, California
2003 Australia Matt Sandford Canada Antigonish, Nova Scotia
2004 Scotland Brian McMullen United States New Hampshire Highland Games], New Hampshire
2005 United States Ryan Vierra Canada Fergus, Canada
2006 United States Ryan Vierra United States Pleasanton, California
2007 Scotland Gregor Edmunds Scotland Inverness, Scotland
2008 United States Sean Betz United States Bridgeport, West Virginia
2009 Australia Aaron Neighbour[4] Scotland Edinburgh, Scotland "Gathering of the Clans"
2010 United States Larry Brock Canada Victoria, Canada "30th Anniversary"
2011 United States Dan McKim United States New Hampshire Highland Games, New Hampshire
2012 United States Matt Vincent Canada Fergus, Canada
2013 United States Dan McKim United States [New Hampshire Highland Games, USA]
2014 United States Matt Vincent Scotland Dunfermline, Scotland[5]
2015 United States Dan McKim France Bressuire, France[6]
2016 England Scott Rider Scotland Halkirk, Scotland[7]

Championships by country

Country Gold
 United States 17
 Scotland 7
 Australia 7
 England 6

Repeat champions

Champion Times
England Geoff Capes 6[2]
United States Jim McGoldrick 5
United States Josh Delzell 5
United States Ryan Vierra 5
Australia Matt Sandford 5
Scotland Grant Anderson 2
United States Dan McKim 3
United States Matt Vincent 2

References

  1. ↑ Roll of Honour
  2. 1 2 3 4 Although the IHGF state on their official website that Geoff Capes won the World Heavy Championship in 1983 in Lagos in their IHGF Champions page (here) the 1983 championship finals were held in Carmunnock, as stated in the Development section of IHGF's same website (here). The location of the 1983 championships being Carmunnock is corroborated by Emily Ann Donaldson in her book The Scottish Highland Games in America (Emily Ann Donaldson, The Scottish Highland Games in America, p19, Pelican Publishing, 1986, ISBN 1-56554-560-5, ISBN 978-1-56554-560-1). In Donaldson's book it is mentioned that a World Championship was held in Lagos in 1981 and Capes won this. The book states that the World Heavy Events Championships was also held in 1981 in Melbourne. From this evidence it would seem that there were two World Championships held in 1981, both sponsored by the IHF. Further corroborating the existence of the 1981 Lagos World Championships is the profile of Geoff Capes written by the founder of the IHF, David Webster, who states that Capes won his first world title in 1981 in Lagos. (David Webster, Sons of Samson Volume 2 Profiles, page 78 (Ironmind Enterprises), ISBN 0-926888-06-4). Further still, on his official website, Capes states that he was six times world champion.
  3. ↑ "Table of final results (1978 - present)". Archived from the original on 2010-02-03.
  4. ↑ The Gathering 2009 Official website
  5. ↑ The 2014 World Highland Games Heavy Events Championships
  6. ↑ http://highlandgames.canalblog.com/archives/2015/06/14/32217260.html
  7. ↑ http://www.ironmind.com/news/Dan-McKim-Wins-IHGF-World-Highland-Games-Championships/
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