Strong competition in Heavyweight events at Waipū Highland Games on New Year's Day

Canadian Highland Heavyweight Games female champion Susie Lajoie will take on the men in the Heavyweight competition at the Waipū Highland games on New Year's Day.

.

The strongmen taking part in the Highland Heavyweight Games event at the Waipū Highland Games on Tuesday will have some tough overseas competition to contend with.

But the challenge from Canada will come in the form of Susie Lajoie, the Canadian Highland Heavyweight Games female champion.

What better way to work off that New Year's Eve excess with a day at the Highland Games at Waipū, where a crowd well over 5000 is expected to attend, with fine spells and cloud cover forecast for Whangarei on New Year's Day.

One of the games' organisers, Pat Hadlee, said Lajoie was a great competitor and would give the men a tough test in the heavyweight competition.

The competitors will vie for points from the seven traditional events: 22lb Highland Stone, tossing the 14lb Sheaf, 16lb Caledonian Hammer, 22lb Heavy Hammer, 28lb Weight for Distance, Tossing the Caber, 56lb Weight for Height (Gaelic Deadweight) and 56lb Weight for Distance.

The host clan for the 2019 games is the McLeod's, which is appropriate given that he event's major sponsor is the McLeod's Brewery.

The New Year's Day games will be the 148th consecutive Highland event at Waipū and Hadlee said planning is already going into the 150th games in 2021, when it's hoped to hold several world championship event which will attract competitors from around the globe.

For more details see http://www.waipugames.co.nz/