mcleanscotland  are local Scots who pride ourselves on showing you the nooks & crannies other tours companies pass on by.   We can show you those hidden gems even Scots do not know!  Mclean Scotland bring you the biggest Highland Games in Scotland at Inverness

left: Bill Scruggs the camera man!  centre: Danny and Tom, right: opening ceremony.

Master heavies gather for world event in Inverness

Bill Scruggs (USA) arrived in Inverness to take part in the biggest Highland Games in Scotland which opened in Inverness last Saturday. Over 100 athletes - men and women - from seven countries descend on Bught Park which is expecting up to 15,000 spectators over the weekend. Bill won the 55-and-over World Championship in 2002 and has now been competing for 10 years in all the events. "We love Scotland, last year we came to see the Games and meet the secretary Gerry Reynolds (Inverness Council) to start planning for this year's event. On the venue Bill said: "It is one of the most beautiful venues for the Games and one of the best fields we've seen." Paul McLean was there of course! mcleanscotland had arranged accommodation for almost 80 athletes and families for the duration. Paul arrived on the Wednesday to "prepare myself" and to ensure all went smoothly. With groups arriving a day before him and the majority the day after at Inverness airport, Paul had his work cut out for him. On the Thursday Paul took a half day tour group to Loch Ness and Fort Augustus, the Friday it was John O Groats and Dunrobin Castle, great fun with the American guests who enjoyed the days out.

left: the fun and games trying to get the bar to world record height!

Of the games itself Paul said "it was really good to see so many (of my age and above) taking part! Made me feel so much better. But I did feel like a wee lad next to some of these guys, they were giants! The Saturday was good as the weather cooled down a wee bit and it was a great day" Pause for breath! " back at the hotel it was a good night, stayed up too late though drinking (erm, I mean socialising) with some of the group. Sunday was a heatwave and I got a bad sunburn on my heed! still have it, looks like a tomato walking down the road! It was a great event and I really enjoyed it and the company of the guests we had". Our US agent was with us also Konnie, thanks to her for all she did. The whole group had a farewell dinner at the hotel on Sunday, a good meal and good fun had by all. Some went on their own self drive tours from Monday morning, some went home and a group came with us to Edinburgh for a few nights. One mention deemed worthy by Paul: Ken Shamblin, a soccer coach from USA expressed an interest in going to the Celtic game in Glasgow Wednesday night, being a huge Celtic supporter I could not that one go, we arranged for him to get a ticket and attend the game with some friends of ours to run shotgun for him!

far left: the caber in progress!  near left: "I told you not to take my beer!"  Paul had to have words with "BULL" about his pint!  Thanks Bull for understanding.

There were many world records broken, which is great for Scotland, as this was the first time this event had been outside USA. A Scot from Fife was so close to breaking another world record, but that was a strange and funny episode, as the bar needed to get as high as 20 foot 7 inches, the bar wouldn't reach so there was a brief wait while the teams organised this!

The games was opened by provost Bill Smith on Saturday at 11.45am.

THE OFFICIAL STORY:

Scotland’s Biggest Highland Games?   Certainly the heaviest! The City of Inverness Highland Games had the honour of becoming the first Highland Games in Scotland to host the Masters World Championships (MWC), the official World Championships for heavies aged over 40 A record 100 heavy athletes competed on Saturday 22 July and Sunday 23 July . Chief Executive of Scottish Masters International, Bill Scruggs, who is based in Colorado, USA, announced that athletes from 11 countries competed here in Inverness. Councillor Angus Dick, Chairman of the Inverness Highland Games Committee, said: "The MWC would be held in Inverness every five years. Held outside the US for the first time, the Masters is the official world championships for heavy athletes aged 40 and over.

above left: Red MacWilliams plays a tune or three, a warm up session.  Right: some heavies! including Sven the Viking (left) Bill (centre with black t shirt), Rick (next to Bill), a gentle giant, a really nice man.

Personally (Paul McLean) I enjoyed every minute of it! I had never even heard of this before, now I know for sure, some of those people were big, I mean BIG! Like a bouncers convention throwing heavy weights around! I made lots of new friends over the four days they were all with us – mcleanscotland with Konnie from Yougotta travel (USA) brought over almost 80 people from North America, some we will be seeing again for sure! Even the two Norwegians (who were not part of our group) were great guys and a good giggle, Sven in particular, I will never forget a Norwegian (Viking) giant dancing with the wee girl dancers! He stopped the competition as everyone was watching him, he became a crowd favourite!

Good news for Scotland – we won an event! Jamie from fife, well done son! My own highlights: meeting everyone, making new friends, having a great laugh, wearing the t shirt ( so many people in the ground were asking how I was doing! Och, such fun. The drinks in the bar at our hotel and the farewell dinner. Oh, how could I forget, the struggle to get the high bar ready for a world record attempt, hilarious! See the photos. Bill, I never saw you without a smile on your face!

On the eve of the Games an announcement was made that a competitor had been selected at random to say a few words on behalf of the competitors during the Opening Ceremony and that Frank Henry given the honour. An unsuspecting Lee Ann was called on to the field to take a photograph of Frank’s big moment. Little did she realise that she was about to have her very own big moment in front of a packed grandstand, 120 Highland Dancers, the British Legion Pipes and Drum Band and 90 Highland Games Competitors and a film crews from Brazilan and German TV. Frank dropped to one knee to the biggest cheer of the whole weekend and seconds later a radiant smile from Lee Ann ensured that everyone knew what her answer was.

RESULTS: The 2006 MWC World Champions were

40-44 Age Group Dirk Bishop of Perth-Andover, Canada 45-49 Age Group Mark McDonald, Dumfries, Scotland40-49 Under 200 pounds Jim Spalding Kirksville Missouri USA

50-54 Age Group Mark Buchanan, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

50 plus Under 200 pounds Alister Munro, Moniack Farm, Near Inverness Scotland

55-59 Age Group Harvey Barkauskas, London, Canada

60-64 Age Group Kent Durso, Franklin, Tennessee, USA

65 plus Age Group Vern Alexander, Fallbrook, CaliforniaWomen

40 plus Age Group Denise Houseman, Manchester, New Hampshire USA
Following the presentation of the awards two of Highland Games legendary figures Greg Bradshaw USA and Bill Anderson Scotland were inducted to the Masters Hall of Fame.
 

Masters 40-44 Age Group Aggregate Results1 Dirk Bishop2 Dan Dillon3 Warren Trask4 Gordon Walsh4 Jamie Barr6 Stephen Whyte7 Malcolm Cleghorn8 Manfred Muehlenhaus9 Kevin Fast10 Robert Bullock11 Juergen Stickelbro12 Thom Van Vleck13 John McClure14 Anthony Lordi15 David Colthart16 Richard Campbell17 Sveinung Tangstad18 Steve Clark19 Russ Baker20 John Kelley
 

Masters 45-49 Age GroupAggregate Results1 Mark McDonald2 Mark Palmer3 Ronald McKee4 Mike Staal5 Malcolm Nimmo6 Larry Ventress7 Merl Lawless8 William Knox
 

Masters 50-54 Age GroupAggregate Results1 Mark Buchanan2 Bill Leffler3 Kevin Youngberg4 Frank Henry5 Dave Glasgow6 Tom Jennings7 Stan Pike8 Frank Cousins9 Bill Hamilton10 Jim Walker11 Rick Baird12 Dana Axelson13 Ken Shamblin
 

Masters 55-59 Age GroupAggregate Results1 Harvey Barkauskas2 Roderick McLeod3 Mike Qutermous4 Ken Beck4 Martin Yates
 

Masters 60-64 Age GroupAggregate Results1 Kent Durso2 Frank Lux3 Dean Ross4 Rob Ritchie5 Jack Magee6 Bill Scruggs7 Bobby Dodd
 

Masters 65 plus Age GroupAggregate Results1 Vern Alexander2 Frank Carl3 Thomas Maceachen4 Ian Miller5 Bill Rogers
 

Women 40 plus Age GroupAggregate Results1 Denise Houseman2 Terri Ventress3 Nancy Baker Fowler4 Kenna Halsey5 Pat Shema
 

Men 40 plus U200 pound Age GroupAggregate Results1 Jim Spalding2 Kevin Rogers3 Kevin Henderson4 Robert Henderson5 Kevin Halsey
 

Men 50 plus U200 pound Age Group
Aggregate Results1 Alister Munro2 Danny Ellis3 Malcolm Doying3 Kevin Marshall