Burntisland Highland Games 2024
Burntisland Highland Games 2024
The second oldest Highland Games in the world, established in 1652, held on the third Monday in July.
For the first time at the Highland Games, female heavy events are taking place, featuring hammer, caber toss, shot putt, weight throw and weight over the bar.
The second oldest Highland Games in the world, established in 1652, held on the third Monday in July.
For the first time at the Highland Games, female heavy events are taking place, featuring hammer, caber toss, shot putt, weight throw and weight over the bar.
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NewsTranscript
00:00INTRO MUSIC
00:10BAGPIPES
00:14BAGPIPES
00:22BAGPIPES
00:46So my name is Elizabeth Elliot and I'm a Highland Games thrower and I'm based in Glasgow.
00:50I have entered today to compete at Burnt Island Highland Games.
00:54It's a very big day for women at Highland Games today.
00:57It's the first time that Burnt Island have ever hosted Ladies Heavies and I'm very proud to be part of it.
01:02It's very unusual to have Ladies Heavies at the Highland Games.
01:06The last few years we've perhaps had about 7 Highland Games in Scotland.
01:10I think the numbers have increased this year up to around 20 which is fabulous.
01:15The committees are very very supportive of it and it's great to see.
01:19I'd certainly like to encourage young women to enter the sport.
01:22We have track and field athletics, we have people out there throwing shot, discus, hammer.
01:27It would be great to see them change over at some point in the summer and join in on the Ladies Highland Games.
01:33We've had a great day. I managed to place second overall.
01:37Second place in the caber which I'm delighted about and all in all I'm pleased with my performance.
01:43My name is David Adamson. I've been part of these games since 1953 when I was a small boy.
01:50I used to come round with Jim Crichton who was his chieftain for many years and put the pegs in round the beans.
01:59Now the Games itself has been going on for 370 years.
02:06The second oldest Games in Scotland.
02:10The Games is very important to the town.
02:14It's a day out for folk coming from Bathgate, Linlithgow, Roxburn.
02:21They all come here. Cowdenbeath, Kelty, Lough Ely.
02:25They all come down Kirkcaldy.
02:28They used to attract, the attractions here was about 35,000 people would appear here for the day.
02:38At one time when Inverkeithan Bypass was getting built, the head of the police opened the road to allow the staff to get away
02:49because it was chock-a-block from Burntisland right up to the bridge.
02:54That's the intensity and the amount of people that was attracted to these Games.
03:01Along the lines of the Games themselves, they've had many, many top athletes who've represented Great Britain in the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games.
03:13Geoff Cates was a well-known man.
03:16Heavyweight, world champion.
03:19We had George McNeill, an amateur who couldn't run in the coming Games because he was a professional at the Games.
03:30He was the world champion for 110 metres.
03:37We used to have one or two other ladies coming here and competing with the men.
03:42But this year is the first year we've started a ladies' head heavyweight division and they're competing just now.
03:51You've got to come to the Games in Scotland to enjoy, relax, see everybody with smiles on their face.
04:01Oh, that was good and things like that.