HIGHLAND GAMES - Time for highland fun and games

by Andr? Hueber
The Waipu Highland Games are going international next week with a live conference call connecting Northland to similar events in Inverness, Scotland and Greensboro, North Carolina.
At one second past midnight on New Year's Day, the Inverness Highland Games will link up by phone with the Triad Highland Games in the US, where it will be 7.05pm on New Year's Eve. Both cities will then connect to the Waipu games where it will be 1pm on New Year's Day.
The secretary of the Waipu Caledonian Society, Wayne Laurence, said he hoped New Zealand would have an advantage as it was competing in the summertime in the afternoon.
"We hope they'll all be stuffed in Scotland by the time it's midnight."
Ten-times New Zealand highland heavyweight champion Pat Hellier and Australian star Craig Reid would be representing Australasia in the weight over the bar competition at Waipu.
They will attempt to toss a 56-pound (25.4kg) weight with an attached handle over a horizontal bar using only one hand. Each athlete is allowed three attempts at each height.
Successful clearance of the height allows the athlete to advance into the next round at a greater height. The competition is determined by the highest successful toss with fewest misses.
Inverness is holding Hogmanay celebrations for New Year, which include the highland weight throwing competition.
The festivities signal the countdown to the Homecoming Scotland 2009 celebrations and the July staging of the Masters World Championships - the world's biggest highland games event.
It was the first time the entire country would spend a whole year celebrating everything to do with Scotland, Mr Laurence said. Celebrations would include "The Gathering 2009" - a meeting in Edinburgh of Scottish clans from around the world.
The Waipu games will be followed by the region's first ever Celtic Music Festival which would be used to raise funds to build a new barn venue.