http://www.gmhg.org
July 9-12, 2009 Linville, NC

Does anyone compete in or attend these games? My mom's side of the family is Scottish and are registered in some clan so I've decided to join them this year at the games. I plan on competing in the Amateur division for the heavy athletics, as well as running the 8k up to the summit. I was just interested if anyone has some pointers on how to train for the heavy athletic events. Examples are things like hammer toss, caber toss, shot toss, sack toss etc. I never did track in high school, so I'm unsure on proper release techniques and timings for the hammers/shots. There are two weights for both the hammers and shots, 28 and 56lbs. I plan on competing in both. I currently do power cleans, light snatches and db cleans at the gym, I figure those are a pretty similar motion to the tosses, minus the spinning. Would anyone happen to be a former track star with some advice and/or know if I, a student, am able to use the Athletic departments field and perhaps shots to practice with? I've never wrestled either but I believe I'll stay out of that event.

Thanks in advance!

5/4/2009 2:12:31 PM

i want to go this year...but i say that every year

5/4/2009 2:13:15 PM

Have fun running the Bear.




sucker.

5/4/2009 2:24:36 PM

PM BigHitSunday

5/4/2009 2:40:51 PM

He certainly looks Scottish.

5/4/2009 3:15:57 PM

i don't have any advice for the field events, but if you're planning on running The Bear (the 8k to the top of the mtn) you'd better do some running to prepare yourself. Even if you end up walking a lot of it (and you will, unless you are a <16m 5k'er), it is still a bitch.

Here is a GPS track I took of it last year (it actually is 5 miles, the drastic elevation change screws up the GPS's calculation of distance). The flat area right at 2.5 miles is when you cross over the cinder track where the Games are actually held. The 2.5 miles before that are a gradual climb up a dirt road. The remaining 2.5 miles are a hellaciously steep climb up the Grandfather Mountain entrance road.


btw, are you going to camp? are you with a klan? or are you just going to go up by yourself and stay in Boone? Transportation to and from the Games is a bitch, and Boone will be slammed. And, be prepared for rain on one or multiple days.

5/4/2009 4:11:26 PM

ive never done the highland games but a dude from ECU named EEric Frasure is like a world champion in some of those events

its basically get drunk and throw, then go drink its awesome I almost considered doin it but id be nowhere near contention

i would love to do the TRUE hammer toss though

the hammer and the shot toss in highland games IS NOT the same as highschool/collegiate/olympic shot put and hammer throw

totally different beasts and totally different implements

you cant use the athletic gym unless you are an athletes guest and you have to sign a waiver.

all thos exercises are fine, but youre gonna ned to work your back and your core with kettle bell or med ball rotations, twisting crunches, and straight up abdominal and lumbar exercises. do squats and the olympic lifts. also do upper back exercises and increase grips strength.

its gonna be rough doing both weight for both exercises, youre gonna be shocked at how trained youre gonna be after just one event, thats why field events generally arent done in one day and definitely not done one right after the other

youll have to work your balance, which mainly is like adductors and the [opposing muscle] to avoid fouling, im not sure how fouls factor into the highland games tho

flip tires, run with stones, filed events do require conditioning because the activity is so explosive,

invest in chalk and wrist tape

you might wanna learn the techniques before you go out there or else you are really going to hurt yourself, im not even joking

you will not be able to use the shotput/hammer circle because NCSU doesnt want your divots in our competition fields or damaging our cages by hitting them with your errant release. Also if you lose an implement in the creek you cant just run down there and get it because its a restoration project and they want to minimize damage. its also a liability to others using the track

id suggest you go to method road theres this field where mexicans play soccer just past the road to the method tunnel, its behind a small church but its got a circle and a cage and its not a bad place to throw

o yea u might not want to practice in a circle at all, the highland throwing events are done on the grass

[Edited on May 4, 2009 at 5:32 PM. Reason : c]

5/4/2009 5:19:11 PM

yea, i just need access to a heavy weight to get the motion down, I currently clean and press 165 for my heavy set and do 5x10x45lb single arm db cleans, I suppose I'll try doing some snatches and clean and press with a 55lb DB for now, i can't afford to invest in a 55lb KB unless I find one on CL.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5HSH5siBD4
I've been watching some of the highlight vids from the professional competitors and it looks like on events such as the stone toss, for both distance and height, you're only allowed 1 arm too, that's gotta be brutal on the joint for a 56lb stone,

the hammer toss looks so intense, should be fun, the weights are 16 and 22lbs on a 4'2" handle

the sheaf toss looks like its more technique based than strength, i suppose i'll just buy a 20lb bag of mulch and toss it around my yard with a pitchfork

and then there's the caber, front squats and clean and press i suppose are the best ways to prep for it, perhaps I could build a slosh pipe and try from there

I def don't want to get hurt though, I do have a pinched L5S1 nerve in my lower back from a squatting accident when I was 14, since Jan 2008 I've lost over 110lbs though and really strengthened my core/low back and try to stay posture aware and use proper form on all my lifts now.

thanks for your input guys

^^we have cabin outside of Todd in a little community called Stonebridge off of 194, ~35min drive to linville, my grandparents are part of a klan, unsure what name etc, but they've gone like 5x over the past few years so I'll be going with them and the immediate family, they're also buying me a kilt I've done a bit of HA jogging, I'm not a top level 5-8ker at all though, avg ~25min/5k, 40min/8k...I've ran up and down our mountain in the past, more or less power walked the steep portions and jogged the flat/slow inclined areas. We were there over easter break and I had them drop me off near the todd general store on 194 and I jogged home ~6.2 miles in 1:45 with ~1200ft elevation diff

5/4/2009 6:08:29 PM

cool, well if you're familiar with the area, maybe you can check out Snake Mountain for a run or two. From Todd, go south on 194 to Meat Camp. Turn right on Meat Camp road and go 2 or 3 miles until you start to kick up Snake Mountain. Then there are about 2 miles of steep climbing that is comparable to the lower part of The Bear course.

5/4/2009 8:06:56 PM

I'm not sure if that GPS map is really off by very much on the distance. The Bear isn't close to a full 5 miles, and that last "mile" is very short. I kept track of my mile splits (as defined by the mile marker signs on the course) the last time I did it (2007), and my last mile was about 2 minutes faster than my other 4. They went: 1 - slow; 2 - slower; 3 - really slow; 4 - fuck dude, are you crawling?; 5 - fast.

The first time I did it in high school, I made it a goal to run the whole way. (I was an okay runner in HS - 17:00 5k, 4:45 mile - nothing special, but I could do some good training runs pretty damn fast, and we trained on a good amount of hills.) I did, and it sucked ass, but I noticed that the person running beside me for the last 2 miles would stop and walk a lot and I wouldn't gain any ground on him. So the next two times I did it, I felt no shame in stopping to walk on several occasions. However, this last time, I think I started with the walking too early, and I could never get back into a running rhythm. After my first walking break, I don't think I ran for more than 1 minute at a time except for the very end. But then again, I was also pretty damn out of shape.

5/4/2009 10:24:09 PM

Quote :

"as well as running the 8k up to the summit."

if you have never ran before, running in higher elevations is not anything like running around Raleigh

5/4/2009 11:46:34 PM

if you're referring to elevation differences, that's not really relevant in this race (or any race on the east coast).
The Bear goes from 3600 to 5300ft - at 1 mile, you might have some slight altitude effects, but you'll be sucking wind so bad by that point already, any diminished air thickness would be negligible compared to the hell your legs and chest have already been put through.

One can often feel a difference in the air from running in Raleigh to running in the NC mountains, but I would contend the main difference is in humidity, not in oxygen concentration. The summer air is so thick with humidity in Raleigh, that running in the relatively dry mountains, the air will feel lighter and thinner, but I think this is mostly through lack of water in the air, not a lack of oxygen.


For NCAA Track qualifying times, they have altitude-adjusted qualification times. I believe 3000ft is the minimum for getting an altitude-adjusted time. The App State track is ~3300ft, so runners like running there because the 3300ft-elevation track really doesn't have any detrimental effects on performance, but they get the lower qualification times for national meets.

5/4/2009 11:56:00 PM

Quote :

"i want to go this year...but i say that every year "

Same here. I'd love to go this year, but I probably won't.

5/5/2009 7:47:40 AM

FYI, The Bear is full. They capped entries at 800 for the first time this year, and they filled up on June 5. There is no more registration, and no race-day registration like in ears past.

6/12/2009 4:38:43 PM

My girlfriend is from up that way. Spruce Pine. We went to Grandfather Mountain when we were up there in May. The swinging bridge is pretty cool. Never been to the Highland Games though.

6/12/2009 7:19:45 PM

I'm all signed up for The Bear and the Amateur Heavy Athletics, got my kilt in my family's colors too! Can't wait.

6/12/2009 8:46:18 PM

^^ they rebuilt the Swinging Bridge around 2000. It's still cool, but a lot of the fun has been taken out of it, you know, with all the "modern design and safety features" like metal floorboards, thick siderails and horizontally-stabilizing cables tied to the rocks. When we used to go there in the 80s and 90s, it was still using the original 1950s design and material, with creaky wood floorboards and only minimal horizontal stabilization, so it swung around like crazy.

6/13/2009 3:42:09 PM

Me and my GF on the swinging bridge. The guy that took the picture must have been a photographer or something, because this shit looks like it was taken in front of a poster

6/13/2009 3:50:29 PM

yea that bridge was awesome, we were up there this past easter weekend, was soooo windy and you couldn't see anything, loved it but my parents were freaking out the entire time

6/13/2009 4:26:56 PM

I'm surprised they let you guys go up that far. Usually when it is really windy they will only let you go up as far as the zoo area.

6/13/2009 4:42:14 PM

the weather on top of Grandfather Mountain is nuts, even though it really isn't that high. It's even lower than Mt Mitchell, but the weather is much more extreme. I think they've recorded show up there in all months of the year except June, July and August. They've had a weather station up there since 1955, and it would regularly record wind over 100mph and 150+ in winter storms. But they replaced that weather station in 2007 with a NWS-approved station, so they couldn't validate the previous wind records, but within a year, in Feb 2008, the new station recorded 107mph.
http://www.grandfather.com/conservation_interpretation/weather_records.php

A couple years ago at The Bear, down at the base of the mountain in Linville, the weather was perfect - it was a nice, July evening in the mountains, warm but not hot, a nice breeze. But after making the last couple turns to the top of the mountain, then once on top where it's not shielded, it was gale force winds and near freezing rain. Usually they wait till everybody is up, then they start shuttling people down the mountain in a bus. But most people got to the top, wearing only shorts and a light shirt, were in serious danger of hypothermia, so they had to get people out of the weather and off the mountain ASAP.


^^ i don't recall the mile marker actually being on the bridge itself. You're standing on it, but does it actually say 5280ft?
The "true mile point" is on the stone stairs beside the visitor center, leading up to the bridge. There is an iron placard on one of the stairs. I think the bridge is somewhere close to 5400ft 5305ft, according to the webpage.

[Edited on June 13, 2009 at 7:52 PM. Reason : .]

decided to dig up some old pictures from my iPhoto library
here is the final accent. The last 200m are the steepest


here's looking down on the last few switchbacks


looking back across the Swinging Bridge to the parking lot, where the race finishes







if you make top 3, you go down to the track where the Games' Opening Ceremony is going on and they give you awards down there in the field.


looking up at the bridge from the edge of the parking lot



and me and my high school teamates after the 1998 race (f'ing 11 years ago what?!)


[Edited on June 13, 2009 at 8:16 PM. Reason : pics]

6/13/2009 7:49:37 PM

if you make top 3, you go down to the track where the Games' Opening Ceremony is going on and they give you awards down there in the field.



[Edited on June 13, 2009 at 8:22 PM. Reason : edit post timeout]

6/13/2009 8:21:28 PM

That's weird. I've never seen the elevation posted on the bridge itself. (other than on the sign that agentlion posted.)
I've only seen the 5280 marker on the staircase leading up to the bridge.

6/13/2009 8:24:28 PM

Are the games fun to go to as a spectator? Worth the drive from Raleigh?

6/13/2009 9:13:48 PM

My GF's dad owns a trucking company out that way. He drove a 18-wheeler about halfway up the mountain for their calendar picture a few years ago. THAT would have been interesting to watch. From what I heard, he had to back the thing all the way down.

6/14/2009 11:14:39 AM

My dad enjoys going up to the highland games and camping out. He goes up there from Greenville.

Just bring marshmellows.

6/14/2009 1:55:16 PM

I did the highland games years ago. Drove 45 minutes to a friends house in the country to train with old sawed off telephone poles, boulders, and buckets filled with cement. The events were fun...I wish I could do it again. It takes strength to do them, but a lot of it is mastering the form.

6/14/2009 3:32:14 PM

has anyone camped there before? I've never been to the highland games but would like to go.. from what I found on the website, you have to purchase a 4-day ticket ($55) and then you get to camp there. alcohol must be "be kept out of sight in bags or boxes and off the tables at MacRae Meadows" - what does this mean, everyone is drinking their beer can in a paper bag?

can you drink during the games?

6/14/2009 7:56:19 PM

Quote :

" can you drink during the games? "

It use to depend on the site. I went to a smaller games in Florida where everyone was tanked and they were handing out samples of whiskey. Others were more serious about being "family friendly".

6/14/2009 8:58:11 PM

How heavy is the caber? I've been doing power cleans and rows like a mofo in preparation for the games. It's a shame I don't have access to KBs to toss around, I suppose the DBs will suffice for now, I'm just worried it's more skill than strength. I don't care to place or anything, I just don't want to get injured in the process.

6/14/2009 9:18:29 PM

It can vary, but normally they weigh around around 125 lbs. I've thrown some that were lighter and one games had a caber that was 150lbs. If you're doing cleans and rows that's good. Be sure to work out your shoulders too. You'll "clean" it to get it off the ground but you'll use a lot of your legs and shoulders to flip it. My biggest problem was gripping it and keeping my hands locked together. We went to Sam's and got a big bag of rice and filled a bucket up with it. I'd put my hands down in it and squeeze as hard as I can for a few times. Sounds weird, but so is flipping something that looks like a telephone pole. It'll definitely take a few times to get use to it. It took me several tries before I flipped it.

6/14/2009 9:46:28 PM

I'd like to run the Grandfather Mountain Marathon one day. Starts at ASU track and finishes on the cinder track during the Highland Games. FTW!

6/14/2009 11:30:57 PM

Is it generally really hot there? We'd like to go and take the dog, but don't want him to die out there. And are dogs even allowed? He likes parades and such.

6/16/2009 2:29:19 PM

no, it's not hot at all.
here is my description from up the page

Quote :

"A couple years ago at The Bear, down at the base of the mountain in Linville, the weather was perfect - it was a nice, July evening in the mountains, warm but not hot, a nice breeze. But after making the last couple turns to the top of the mountain, then once on top where it's not shielded, it was gale force winds and near freezing rain."

and from http://www.grandfather.com/conservation_interpretation/weather_records.php
the average daily high in June is 66 and July is 69. i.e. perfect.
only thing you need to worry about with a dog (if they're allowed, which I don't know) would be rain. It will probably rain at some point, at which time the dog will make a fucking mess of everything you have.

6/16/2009 2:43:38 PM

6 more days of training, woot woot

7/2/2009 7:32:18 AM

did some first-time bouldering with my bro-in-law at some rocks off of the Parkway in an area called Grandmother. Had a great view of the backside of Grandfather. We could see into the McRae Meadows where they've started to put up the big tents for the games already. Here's a panoramic I took - view the fullsize picture, and on the left, above the lake (and below the horrid Sugartop building) you can see the Meadows. Then in the center of the picture, below the left-peak, you can see the last part of the road as it goes up to the swinging bridge.


Full Size (4MB, 6600px wide!)
http://www.panoramio.com/photos/original/24099333.jpg


And the weather looks perfect. I'm in Blowing Rock now, and it's great. But if you're camping or will be there at night, bring pants and long sleeves, because it will get chilly.

7/4/2009 12:02:34 PM

I'll be there - my family and I judge and I'll be judging the Highland Wrestling.

Just to give you a heads up - GMHG is *very* competative. I saw one comment saying get drunk and throw - trust me that is NOT the mentality at these games.
Advice? 1. get some bike shorts to wear under your kilt - we don't want to see it and 2. drink lots of water etc and pace yourself at events. Some things like the hammer toss can run for quite a long while depending on how thigns go.

Just for fun - highland wrestling is NOTHING like any wrestling you might have seen on tv or in highschool or whatnot. There is a clinic on Friday to go over techniques etc.

7/4/2009 12:28:14 PM

hmm I wasn't planning on attempting to wrestle since I never wrestled in high school but I do feel I'd fair well in my weight class if I did have some experience. I'll be running the bear the day before the amateur athletics, I don't plan on really pushing myself to complete the bear in some personal record pace, rather I just hope to set a pace where I don't walk a portion. I've yet to walk in any 5-8k event I've participated in, although those didn't involve a mountain

If I'm going to load on anything, it's going to be real carbs, not alcohols. Michael Phelps diet inc, I just need some weed.

7/4/2009 1:29:28 PM

weed and the caber would be fun to watch

7/4/2009 1:40:53 PM

^^ while it may be an admirable goal to run the whole way, keep in mind it may be faster to walk in some parts. My former roommate Ryan Woods has won a couple times, and he walks some of the corners every year. If you take some of the corners tight, the road is so steep that if you try to run, you will end up with very short, very painful baby steps. But if you walk, you can put your hands on your knees and take bigger, stronger steps, which will ultimately be faster. The first time or two I did it I think I ran the whole way, then I realized that getting a faster time was a better goal than trying to run the whole thing.


oh yeah - looks like the forecast has been updated and there is now a chance of rain or storms on some of the days. be sure to bring rain gear and plenty of try clothes

[Edited on July 4, 2009 at 3:39 PM. Reason : .]

7/4/2009 3:37:13 PM

do you know if I have to qualify or anything on Friday? I'm registered for the amateur heavy athletics and can't seem to find out if the events on friday are some sort of prerequisite for the saturday events...if not, I may come out to the wrestling demo and give it a whirl, perhaps compete...it's just a back hold/bear hug type style, no? I was watching the youtube vids, doesn't look too bad, although I'm sure it's much worse in person. I may be too worn out from the bear, I'm probably better off just carb loading and resting all day friday. I've got a ton of chili and chicken salad planned for friday.

7/4/2009 8:34:57 PM

I'm in Blowing Rock now, about to head down to Linville for THe Bear start..... Fog just rolled into town and it's 61F in Blowing Rock, and 57F halfway up Grandfather Mtn now (at the nature museum, not at the top), with slight drizzle. It's going to be cold as shit on top of the mountain tonight when the sun goes down!
Bring a sweatshirt and rain jackets.

7/9/2009 4:35:52 PM

my cousin competes in scottish games, though i'm not sure if he will be at grandfather this year. his name is Larry Brock and he places pretty high (1st or 2nd) in almost all games he competes in. he also graduated from appalachian state and played football there all four years. if you're going to be there, cheer him on!

http://www.brockthrow.com/

7/10/2009 7:30:54 AM

the "celtic rock concert" is usually really good.

7/11/2009 12:53:33 AM

well, The Bear was fun on Thursday. Somehow I managed to run ~15 seconds faster this year than last, despite considerably less preparation. Like about half of the times I've run it, it was wet and cold at the top - here's some pictures from the top, of the bridge and looking back to the race finish. You couldn't see more than 30 yards or so







my wife did The Grizzly bike metric century on Friday morning and got 2nd, so we snagged another of the really nice platter things they give as awards


[Edited on July 12, 2009 at 7:20 PM. Reason : .]

7/12/2009 7:19:57 PM

congrats to both of you, I quite enjoyed my first highland games

The Bear went well, managed to jog up until ~4mile mark near Black Rock, that first paved long straight away was a killer, until then it was pretty fun, running through all the campers was hilarious, they were trying to hand everyone beers. I ended up finishing in just under an hour, really paced myself early on for fears of burning out on the high altitude breathing but I didn't feel it effected me so I must have approached that in the correct manner.

The games were a ton of fun, I didn't do well at all, at least compared to the "A" amateurs. Luckily I showed up Friday and they let me compete with the whopping 3 "B" amateurs who were still much much more experienced than I. Received a few medals from the "B" competitions and then came back to get my ass handed to me by the goliath men of "A". I thought I was a pretty big guy....I'd have to put on 80lbs of mass to compare to these giants. I was the 2nd leanest guy there by far, another guy around my size was competing but he had ~10yrs of training on me. He managed pretty well, finished like 7-8th of 13 competitors. I'd really have to buckle down over the next year, add mass and find the capital to train specifically for these events if I wanted a chance at placing. My favorite event was the caber toss. I managed to flip the caber on the "B" day for a 12.15 and then got destroyed by the mammoth caber they had to attempt on "A" day. I couldn't even get a clean pick up on it, the judge had to stop me for fear of breaking my collar bone. Oh well, still had a blast learning everything and getting a chance to compete with the big boys. Here are some pics:






my dad got some crappy vids too, I'll see what I can do

7/12/2009 7:33:38 PM

Haha, that last pic is priceless, brother. Looks like a good time.

7/12/2009 8:32:05 PM

^^Haha. Great pics. I like how you rock the Superman T-Shirt at athletic competitions (see also KKC).

7/12/2009 9:40:11 PM

It's said that the redneck residents at the foot of this mountain never leave there all their lives. Is that true?

10/9/2013 9:01:45 PM