NUTS they may be, but there’s no doubt the strongmen of Scottish custom were the highlight of Saturday’s Highland Games at Beechworth’s Amulet Winery.
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With more grunt than a Maria Sharapova tennis match, the five burly competitors stole the show as they heaved their way through stone putt, stone carry and everyone’s favourite: the caber toss.
“The reason you come and do it is the caber,” said Tim O’Shea, who came from Queensland for the event.
“Highland games is like no other sport.
“It’s fun and the camaraderie is great — the five of us are living in a house together for the weekend.”
If that sounds like a recipe for a reality TV show, it would be “unbroadcastable”, said fellow strongman James Grahame.
With his lilting Scottish accent, you’d think he was born carrying stones but he started competing a few years ago after moving to Australia.
“There’s only about three of these events in all of Victoria, so today is very important,” he said.
Wodonga’s own Scott Martin agreed — the Olympic shot putter, now based in Melbourne, said he took up the games for the challenge.
“I’d never seen a 70-pound (31.7 kilogram) shot put before, so I was interested to come out and give it a go,” he grinned.
Much as they love it, don’t they know it can all seem, well, a little crazy?
“Yeah, don’t worry,” said Luke Reynolds, “we all know we’re kinda nuts.”
The event was the sixth hosted at the winery, although plans to avoid the dreary winter by moving it from August to May went awry with Saturday’s chill.
“It’s definitely Scottish, but the crowd is here all rugged up,” Amulet winemaker Ben Clifton said.
The event also featured highland dancers, the Golden City Pipe Band and the popular guns and hoses challenge that pitted police against firefighters — the firies won.