Harrison Bailey III won the Antigonish Highland Games, one of the most prestigious competitions on the international Highland Games circuit.


2010 Antigonish Highland Games
by Francis Brebner

The Antigonish Highland Games, the oldest continuous Highland Games outside of Scotland, celebrated its 147th year of consecutive Games in 2010.

Thousands of spectators witnessed big throws all around by the heavy athletes, with a dazzling performance by USA’s Harrison Bailey, marked by a new ground record in the 56-lb. weight for distance that pulled Bailey closer to his fellow athlete Larry Brock, currently ranked as the world’s number-one distance thrower.
 


Antigonish, known for being one of the world’s premier Games on the international circuit, had a top lineup of heavy athletes vying for the win over its two day competition; these included Greg Hadley, Harrison Bailey, Matt Doherty Lyle Barron, Kerry Overfelt, Dirk Bishop, Stu Walsh, Adam Ogilvie, Danny Frame, Craig Hurford, and Al MacFarlane.
 


In the opening event with the 23.2-lb. stone, it was Canada one–two, with Matt Doherty taking the win with a put of 40’ 3”; in second place was Hadley at 39’ 3”, and in third place, Bailey at 38’ 9”.
 


Following was the 56-lb. weight for distance, where we witnessed the biggest throw so far this season when Bailey obliterated the ground record with an enormous throw of 47’ 3”.  In second place was Hadley with 43’ 11” and in third place, Kerry Overfelt with 42’ 4”.
 


The 22-lb. hammer proved to be a breeze for Hadley, who pulled out a vast throw of 114’ 3” for the win, with Bailey in second place at 106’ 11.5” and Barron in third at 106’ 11".
 

In the caber (22’ 10”, 120-lb.), Canada went one–two–three, with Barron nailing the win, Hadley in second place, and Doherty in third.
 The 56-lb. weight over the bar ended in a tie between Doherty and Frame at 16’, with Bailey in third place with 15’.
 
The sheaf toss, which was not a scored event, was a tie between Bailey and Overfelt at 32’.
 After day one the points could not have been closer:
 

The second day of competition got under way with the 17.2-lb. open stone, which Doherty won with a put of 50’ 1”.  In second place was Bailey at 47’ 2” and in third place, Overfelt at 45’ 6”.
 

The 28-lb. weight for distance was a close contest between Bailey and Overfelt, with Bailey coming out on top at a winning distance of 82’ 11” and Overfelt in second place with 82’.  Lyle Barron took third place with 77’.
 


In the 16-lb. hammer, Hadley dominated with a great winning distance of 136’ 9”.  Overfelt was in second place at 129’ 2” and Bailey was in third place at 127’.
 The challenge caber was won by Bailey, with Barron in second and Hadley in third.


Overall placings:


1.  Harrison Bailey

2.  Greg Hadley
3.  Matt Doherty

4.  Kerry Overfelt
5.  Lyle Barron
6.  Dirk Bishop

7.  Danny Frame

8.  Al MacFarlane
9.  Adam Ogilvie

10. Craig Hurford

11.  Stu Walsh
                                                                                                    
Want to talk strength?  Join the IronMind® Forum!

You can also follow IronMind® on Twitter.