Summary report

The total prize purse of nearly £22,000, the largest in Scotland, ensured that the crowd of 5,000 were enthralled by many of the World's best athletes, Highland dancers and pipers competing at the North of Scotland's top Games.

The crowd was entertained by the pipes and drums of Thurso and Kirkwall City Pipe Bands.

Over 200 photographs of the Games can be seen by clicking on the link to the right (below 'Photos').

Heavyweights

The Scottish Games Association World Heavyweight champion Ryan Vierra, California, making his second appearance at Halkirk, swept away all challengers to clinch the title of Champion of Champions. International champions Larry Brock, North Carolina, Harrison Bailey III, Pennsylvania, Sean Betz, Nebraska, Murray Gunn, Halkirk, Ian MacKay, Thurso & Alistair Gunn, Halkirk, could not match the power, speed and strength of the Californian strongman.

Vierra won five of the nine events to clinch the Andrew Ross memorial cup as open champion, the A Waugh memorial cup as caber champion, the Clan Gunn Society cup for the greatest total distance in both hammer events and the SGA Scottish Championship medals for the two hammer events.

Sean Betz, making his first appearance at Halkirk, clinched the Scottish Championship medal for the 28lb weight for distance. Larry Brock won the 56lb weight for distance, the sheaf toss and was first equal with Betz in the 56lb weight for height.

Alistair Gunn, Halkirk, who recently clinched the silver medal behind Vierra in the SGA World Championship, was unfortunate to sustain a back injury and this severely restricted his throwing attempts. His brother Murray took full advantage and clinched the Caithness championship for the first time.

Cycling

On the track, Wick professional cyclist Evan Oliphant was surprisingly beaten for the overall championship by 18 year old Kevin Barclay from Glenrothes. Oliphant has been in top form in Britain's premier road races and has recently won two major events. He was so keen to compete at his favourite Games that he turned down a chance to race in Hungary!

Training for these long road races has restricted practice for grass track racing and young Barclay took full advantage. His power and speed around the tight 200m track was phenomenal and he beat Oliphant in five of the seven events. Barclay was rewarded with the SGA Scottish Championship medal for the 2000m race and it looks as though he will take over Oliphant's mantle as Britain's best grass track cyclist. The cycle racing was the most exciting for years, with a total of 15 open cyclists and 5 juniors battling it out on the tight but fast circular track.

The open junior champion was Alastair Van Der Vlies, Forres and the Caithness junior champion was Michael Sutherland, Murkle.

Athletics

The track and light field events were a battle between Andrew MacDonald, Aberlour, Antony Daffurn, Coatbridge, Donald Bradley, Inverness and Craig Robertson, Logierait, with all four winning at least one of the nine events. A record number of competitors (16) produced very exciting finishes in all the races. Daffurn, making his first appearance at Halkirk, smashed the ground record for the hop, step and leap with a jump of 45 feet 5 inches. Bradley, who has competed at Halkirk for over 20 years, won the final two events, the pole vault and the 1600m. It may be his last appearance as he and his family are emigrating to Australia. MacDonald just held off Daffurn to win the overall title.

The junior open champion was Andrew Raeburn, Thurso, who won all 4 events. He is the top ranked athlete in Scotland, for his age, at the sprints and jumps and is one to watch for the future.

Tug O'War

Halkirk "A", the newly crowned Scottish Tug O'War champions, just beat their deadly local rival Forss "A" by two pulls to one, to clinch the Tug O'War title. They will be travelling to Northern Ireland in mid August to compete in the British championships and may then travel to Holland for the World Championship.

Clay Pigeon Shooting

A very large field of 55 guns took part in the clay pigeon shooting events, with M D Campbell, Armadale winning the overall aggregate. He held off the challenge from T Gunn, Papigoe and G Duguid, Inverness.

The senior champion was G Duguid and the junior champion was Kieran Munro, Scrabster.

Piping

Niall Matheson, Inverness was again the top piper, after beating a strong contingent in all three events. The under 15 champion for the March was Chloe Smith, Thurso. Keith Baxter, Thurso, won the U15 Jig and Strathspey & Reel. The U18 champion was Ashley Bell, Muir of Ord, who just held off the strong challenge from Halkirk's Jack Cowan.

Highland Dancing

The top adult dancer was Kara Broughton from Australia, who just held off the challenge from Wick's Tanya Horne. Horne won the Prince Henry Sinclair cup for the most outstanding performance by a Caithness competitor as well as the Shell Ex-pro trophy for most points in the Jig and Hornpipe. The U16 open champion was Suzanne Loch, Girvan. The U12 open champion was Ciara Wilson, Ayrshire. The Caithness U16 champion was Kirsty Bain, Wick and the U12 champion was Anna Falconer, Wick. The Halkirk Parish Champion was Aileen Banks.

Baby Show

The champion baby in the highly competitive baby show was thirteen month old Megan Sutherland from Thurso.