Loserboy's Blog

August 4, 2019	2019 Montreal Highland Games	Other events	4 years ago
August 5, 2018	41st Montreal Highland Games	Other events	5 years ago


Sunday August 4 2019 - 2019 Montreal Highland Games	Other events
Last year, I went to the Highland Games with a cute bear from Vermont. This year, I wanted to bring a friend who has never been to the event. The irony was that he had to cancel the day before due to an unexpected appointment. I was pondering back and forth if I should go alone, but mustered the bravery required to go all the way. I did not regret it. I've included here my best shot of Padraic Moore, one of the bigger strongmen that was at the event. I'm pretty sure he does it on purpose, but when Padraic wears those flashy green glasses, it makes him look like the "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Padraic was also a very good sport to give me that thumbs up when he saw me taking shots of him. To be a strongman also means to have a big heart and a great personality. These guys know that they are constantly under the spotlights and I'm pretty sure they love it. Each time he'd throw that hammer, Padraic would yell out that "Woohoo!" regardless of the outcome. We love you Padraic. I've also got here a shot from Danny Frame during the hammer throw event. Apparently, he holds the world record for the most caber tosses in 3 minutes. My friend who couldn't attend said he has a thing for ginger bears like Danny. I also took a shot of Drew Garvie, a contender that I had not seen the previous year. He seemed a bit camera shy, but I managed anyway to sneak in this shot. Hehehehe. He was sporting a cap to protect him from the sun, but when came the time to throw his hammer, he threw the cap away. These strongmen are given a unique t-shirt with their family name spelled in the back, but these guys end up customizing their t-shirts. Moore cut off the sleeves to show off his big and mighty biceps while Garvie took a different approach by applying some sort of white tape around the shoulders. On the other hand, Frame is a bit more reserved and keeps his t-shirt untouched. I was hoping he'd take the example of the other strongmen so we can see what big thick arms he is hiding. I stayed at the Games only for a short while. The temperature was cooler than last year, but the sun was still quite punishing. So, I went home right after I ate my brits and chips. Even though I love strongmen, I also have to admit that the bagpipes are a tad bit too much for me. Anyhow, I did take my fair share of camera content for last year's Highland Games. I'd assume this was the 42nd Highland Games, but the site now only refers to the year (The 2019 Highland Games).
Blog ID 258

Sunday August 5 2018 - 41st Montreal Highland Games	Other events
WrestleInMN (id 3305) was in town today and he invited me to go see the 41st Montreal Highland Games. These games represents a combination of various events including pipe bands, highland dancing, tug of war, strongman athletics competition, musket/cannon firing and medieval fights. However, most importantly, every contestants, musicians and athletes there are wearing a kilt... Yes, everybody gets to be Scottish for one day. The event is held as a fundraiser for the Douglas Foundation for mental illnesses. We showed up at around noon and used a school bus shuttle to arrive near the Douglas Hospital grounds. Near the entrance, a kind lady would take our entrance fee and attach a bracelet to our wrists while explaining in french: - "It'll be 15$ per adult. Kids 14 and under get free admission." I nudged my head towards WrestleInMN and asked the lady: - "Can we consider my friend here as a 14 years old? He's very young." - "No, I'm afraid not", she answered while smiling. - "Well, he is 14 years old.. mentally." - "That's an entirely different matter." She laughed . I later explained to WrestleInMN the English translation of our conversation. If it wasn't for the crowd around, I think he probably would have headlocked me to the ground. Meheheheheh... It's always part of my evil plan to psych up wrestling bears so they have this strong desire to destroy me. Anyway, you've guessed correctly if you figured out that our main presence at the Highland Games was primarily for the Strongman Athletics Competition. About 9 strong beefy guys were doing sack throws, hammer toss, caber runs and a handful of other strength competition to show off their... well.. strength. Here's an incomplete lineup of the competitors. From left to right, you get to see Rob Young (Orange), Owen Williams (Navy), Danny Frame (Green), Padraig Moore (Orange), Will Barron (Green). This photo is unfortunately missing four contenders. One of the commentators mentioned that Rob Young gives out big huge bearhugs... for 1$. I had my eyes set on both Padraig Moore and Danny Frame while WrestleInMN had his eyes on Will Barron. I commented out to my friend that each time Danny throws a sack or a stone, you'd see his shirt go up a bit and you get to see his belly. In contrast, Will had his t-shirt tucked down the whole time tight in his kilt. WrestleInMN mentioned that he likes his bears a bit more "refined". He asked me: - "You being a lover of bears, how come you never came to the Highland Games?" I didn't know what to answer.. I've always wanted to see these strongmen perform. I lived all my life here in Montreal and this event ran before I was even born... Yet, I've never knew or heard about it... No sense worrying about it now. It's never too late. From now on, I'll make sure I attend this on a yearly basis. I wasn't sure if cameras were allowed, so I only got my LG G4 phone to take pictures and videos. Unfortunately, this phone was definitely not meant for great pictures. The digital zoom is terrible. Of course, there were plenty of people sporting their expensive 5K worth camera with professional zoom-in lenses bigger than your arm. Had I known, I would have brought it my own Nikon to test it on the field. Meh... there's always next year. There was a heatwave going on. Both of us got sunburn, but it was well worth it. The following 40-seconds reel should summarize a few of the things that we've had the pleasure to experience throughout the day. Test We continued to walk around to admire the bagpipe marching bands, the tug of war and the medieval fights. We also listened to two country and Scottish fusion bands playing music while we gulped down haggish, lamb roast, fish and chips and lemonade. We also visited kiosks selling artisan goods, t-shirts, jewelry, weapons and more food. I just realized I bought nothing as a souvenir. The tug of war was pretty interesting. Four delegations were competing with each other with one tug of war presented each hour. The finalists were The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada and The Stingers from Concordia University. The Stingers ultimately won the war.... but it doesn't end there. The host invited children from the crowd to challenge the Stingers in a tug of war to see if they can win against the champions. Obviously, the kids won... because the Concordia Stingers were instructed to let them win. It's probably the cutest thing I've seen at this event. You should see the kids reaction: "Hey, we just won against eight beefy quarterback players of 260 lbs each! We're stronger than them!" There were musketeers trying to shoot their muskets, but they seemed to have a few mechanical problems. I was recording them for 2 minutes waiting for them to shoot. WrestleInMN eventually told me to stop recording and as soon as I pressed the stop button, the musketeers were able to fire a shot a few seconds later. Go figure. Thankfully, WrestleInMN was able to get a video of a separate cannon shot during the opening ceremony, which I included in the summary reel. The strongmen caber toss was definitely a highlight. WrestleInMN took the opportunity to explain to me his grand knowledge of this particular event. The caber toss is thrown not for power, but for precision. It needs to do a 180 degree flip and needs to fall straight forward from where it is thrown. This was my first time seeing this, so yeah, it was quite something. I get it now why many people come to these games just to see the caber toss. Around 5 pm, I started getting a headache from the heat, so we took the shuttle back and parted ways. I would have wrestled WrestleInMN, but he needs to drive back to Vermont to take care of his dog. We have decided to reschedule our match for perhaps October or November. Back home, I shudder with a bit of pain while putting Aloes on the back of my neck... it's always the one spot I always get burned from over-exposition to the sun.
Blog ID 199