Highland Games Debut at Arnold Sports Festival
Although the spacious fields at the Columbus Commons on Sunday, March 3 will be filled with four bagpipe bands and a competition in classic Scottish dancing, the centerpiece for the inaugural Arnold Scottish Highland Games will be a traditional Heavy Events competition with exciting events and unique awards.
Held on the beautiful new Columbus Commons in the city center from 10am-4pm, with the opening ceremonies beginning at 11am, kilted ”Heavies” will throw long-shafted sledge-hammers, toss round stones rather than metal shotputs, throw 56-pound weights for height and 28-pound weights for distance, and toss cabers end over end–a caber being a tree trunk around 20′ long and weighing well over a hundred pounds!
All eight of the mighty men who will be competing are elite American athletes, and all are very experienced in Scottish Highland Games; most, if not all, have competed internationally. The stakes are high, and these huge athletes will compete for very attractive cash prizes plus other valuable awards. The total value of the prize-money and the other awards is approximately $30,000. Included in the prizes in Columbus will be a totally unique trophy, perhaps the best trophy ever given at any Highland Games over the past 200 years.
This ”Masterpiece” is a striking bronze statue of a kilted stone-putter commissioned by Arnold Sports Festival producers, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jim Lorimer for this event. The statue was created by Mike Deming, a sculptor from Cleveland who came to the attention of the promoters because of an amazing clay likeness of Arnold.
The athlete Mike Deming depicted for this trophy is Donald Dinnie a legend in Scotland. Dinnie (1837-1916), was Scotland’s—and perhaps the modern world’s–first sports superstar. He travelled the world in Victorian times competing in Highland Games, wrestling etc. and challenged all athletes wherever he appeared. He won more than 11,000 prizes and cash awards in his 50-year career.
In producing the Dinnie Bronze Trophy, Deming worked from a wide range of rare old photographs and produced an exceptional likeness of the old champion—a likeness filled with movement and power. Deming, will be in attendance to watch and to congratulate the victor.
The competitors are very motivated by the fact that the winner of the ”Arnold Games” will be assured of a place in the World Heavy Events Championships of 2013, which will be held later this summer. Unlike imitations, the World Heavy Events Championships has been held annually in different parts of the world for more than three decades. The greatest names in the sport have entered this event over the years, and Americans have featured strongly. In fact, this year the United States has the best athletes in the world in Scottish Highland Games, and most of those athletes will compete in Columbus on the 3rd of March.
On Saturday, March 2 at 4pm on the EXPO stage in the Greater Columbus Convention Center, there will be a Women’s ”Weight over Bar” competition featuring two of the world’s best Scottish Highland Games competitors–Adriane Wilson of Irmo, South Carolina, 13 times NCAA All American in shot, discus and hammer; and Kate Burton, of Silverdale, WA. Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Wyoming and a mechanical engineer for the Navy.
On Saturday afternoon, on the EXPO stage, after the two women have completed their throws and the winner has been decided, Mike Zolkiewicz—who holds the world record for men in this event–will do just one, very spectacular throw. It will certainly whet the appetites of Highland Games fans eager to see what will happen on the Columbus Commons the following day.
Zolkiewicz created a sensation in a world class Highland Games in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, when he broke the long-standing world record in the Weight Over Bar established by Wout Zjilstra. Mike’s new record height was 19′! The enormity of the feat astounded all present, and his opponents in the event rushed forward to very vigorously congratulate him. These were his opponents, and in spite of this affecting the score and prize money, they spontaneously and enthusiastically showed their pleasure and admiration.
The camaraderie of the muscular men on the professional Highland Games circuit is world famous. An official’s cell phone was ringing unnoticed until its owner shouted to Mike, ”This is for you.” Mike, still dazed by the proceedings took it, and as he listened his face showed utter amazement. It was an overseas call from the mighty Dutchman, Wout Zjilstra, who wanted to be one of the first to congratulate Mike for breaking his record.
2013 Scottish Highland Games Competitors
- David Barron (New York, N.Y.)
- Sean Betz (Omaha, Neb.)
- Eric Frasure (North Carolina)
- Mike Pockoski (Troutman, N.C.)
- Daniel McKim (Kansas City, Mo.)
- Andy Vincent (League City, Texas)
- Matt Vincent (Baton Rouge, LA)
- Mike Zolkiewicz (Springfield, Mass.)
Dr. Bob Goldman
Dr. Bob Goldman is our main sponsor and he provided the cash awards that made possible this entire event, the winner of which will automatically qualify for the 2014 Highland Games World Championships. Not only did Dr. Goldman sponsor the 2013 Arnold Scottish Highland Games, he has contributed large sums in the past to other Arnold Sports Festival events. Bob himself has been an outstanding performer in a wide range of events, and many of his feats are featured in the Guinness Book of Records.
