If you've ever wondered what a Scot wears under his kilt, Butch McNeil's would have given you a good glimpse. Before getting ready to throw a 56-pound weight over a 13 foot bar, McNeil would pull up his kilt, slap his legs and call attention to his lucky black and red underpants. But luck was not on his side on 07/07/07.
While his antics were clearly crowd pleasers, his powerful throws were just short of clearing the 13 feet high hurdle. Josh Grace of Santa Rosa captured the lead in the weight-over-a-bar category at the 40th Annual Monterey Scottish Games and Celtic Festival at Toro Park. Not that this peculiar breed of athlete is keen on besting the competition.
At the Highland games, it is considered sporting to give your rivals tips on avoiding mistakes. "I've been involved in other sports, and there's no other sport where other competitors are anxious for you to do well," said Carlos Borges, athletic director for the festival. "They give you tips on how to bend down, on how to throw.
The athletes usually bring their families for the weekend competition, and sometimes there's husband and wife or father and son competing, Borges said. The small circle of competitors usually run into each other at events throughout California, where there are more kilts, flashy underpants and throwing. But the family fun doesn't stop at the athletic compound.
It spills over to the food stands, the dancing competition and the genealogy research booths. And from time to time, above the clapping and the piping, a clinking bell can be heard. It's the warning Gaby Smith of Ye Olde Quicksilversmith sounds every time she's about to let her 80-pound weight drop on a one-inch coin.
"Striking!" she yells as the weight falls to stamp images on either side of a new coin. After the customer show off her quicksmithing, more would-be buyers gather around.
Robin Russell of Santa Cruz got a bronze medallion with a turtle emblazoned on one side and an "R" on the other. "We've had a great time, and this will be a remembrance of this event," Russell said. Russell came to the festival with her daughter and husband to explore a bit of her Celtic in her case, Irish roots.
Her daughter Maggie purchased a scarf made with the Fraser tartan not that it had anything to do with their lineage. The mother-daughter duo are fans of Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series, the story of Scottish Highlander Jamie Fraser and his time-traveling wife, Claire. "They send you back to Scotland," Russell said.
Also milling around the silversmithing was Kieron Henry, a Scot by birth on a two-week whirlwind tour of the United States. The 21-year-old man, now a resident of Australia, is globe-trotting with his father and found out about the festival by chance while having some brews in Monterey late Friday. After attending the festival he'll have pictures other than Americans drinking Starbucks to show his friends.
"It's been great," Henry said, as he tried to decide which design to pick for a gift for his girlfriend. "People here are really nice and talkative. Almost as big as us Scots.
" Back at the Highland games, the five professional competitors got ready to toss the sheaf a burlap bag stuffed with straw or mulch. Borges, wearing royal blue tight underpants, takes three steps away from the bar, swings the pitchfork twice, throws the sheaf into the air, and clears the 19-foot hurdle on the first try. Grace, the leader in almost every other game, enters the sheaf throwing competition when the hurdle is raised a couple of feet.
"Is 23 feet enough to get you interested?" Borges chided him. It's not so easy for Borges, who fails in three attempts to throw the sheaf over the high bar.
In the end, it's Grace who wins this game too, after clearing 25 and 27 feet, but he can't make the tight bundle go over 29 feet. "Give him a hand." The Santa Rosa athlete ended up winning the games and the $500 prize that comes with it.
"It's a long day," Grace said before getting ready for the final competition. "It's three tosses in nine events, that's 27-plus attempts. That's a lot of Advil the next day.
" Claudia Meléndez Salinas can be reached at 753-6755 or cmelendez@montereyherald.com. If you've ever wondered what a Scot wears under his kilt, Butch McNeil's would have given you a good glimpse.
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