Kerry Overfelt finished off the 2009 professional Highland Games season with a victory in Virginia, as he won the Meadow (formerly, Richmond) Highland Games, where the motto is, “Music. Food.  Large Men Throwing Stuff.”
 

Francis Brebner filed this report with IronMind®.

2009 Meadow (Richmond) Highland Games
by Francis Brebner
 
It was another great performance by Kerry Overfelt this weekend at the Richmond Highland Games, as he won the last pro Games of the season.
 
The field of ten top athletes included Kerry Overfelt, Eric Frasure, Mike Zolkiewicz, David Barron, Chris Chafin, Chris St. Clair, Mark Valenti, Sam Grammer, Kearney Smith, and Mike Pockoski.
 
A crowd of more than twenty thousand spectators watched as our band of tartan warriors battled it out with some riveting performances throughout the competition, which come down to the final event.
 
In the 17-lb. open stone, Chafin nailed the win with 52’.  In second place was Frasure with 48’ 7”, and in third, Zolkiewicz at 48’ 3”.
 
The 56-lb. weight for distance was a very tight competition between Overfelt and Frasure, the only two athletes to go over the 40’ barrier, with Overfelt claiming the win with a throw of 41’ 4”.  Frasure was pushed back into second position at 40’ 4”, and Dave Barron just squeezed into the third spot.
 
In the 28-lb. weight for distance, Overfelt was in a realm of his own with a throw of 82’ 5-1/2” for the win, with Frasure in second place at 79’ 11-1/2” and Zolkiewicz in third at 76’ 4-1/2”.
 
After three events and with two wins under his belt going into the 22-lb. hammer, Overfelt added another but Frasure made him work for it.  Overfelt just snatched the win from Frasure with 112’ 5-1/2”, a small margin over Frasure’s throw of 112’ 2-1/2”, which earned him second place.  Mike Pockoski brought up the rear for third place with 111’ 2”.
 
In the caber, which was 20’ in length and 130-lb., Zolkiewicz claimed his first win with 11:55.  Frasure came in second with 12:10, and Chris St. Clair landed in third place with a toss of 12:15.
 
The 26-lb. Braemar stone was a very close competition between the top three, with the victory going to Chris Chafin with a very nice throw of 39’ 7”.  In second place was Zolkiewicz with 38’ 6” and Overfelt tight in third place with 37’ 10-1/2”.
 
Going into the final event of the competition, the points were very close between Overfelt and Frasure, but with another consistent performance in spinning the weight over the bar, Overfelt cleared the height of 18’ for the win.  In second place was Frasure with 17’ and in third place, Zolkiewicz, who also cleared 17’ and did so from a traditional standing position.
 
After seven events and four wins, Overfelt had indeed won the competition—and what a way to finish on top, winning most of the Games that he entered this season.  Overfelt was quick to mention that this past weekend at Richmond was rough:  “Eric pushed me all day long and I had to come up really big in the weight over the bar to beat him.”

Overall, top three:

1. Kerry Overfelt  60 points
2. Eric Frasure  58
3. Mike Zolkiewicz  51
 
We look forward to next year with great anticipation to see whether Overfelt can remain on this pinnacle with his great all-round performances and maybe even take his throwing to a whole new level—or will we see a new contender surface to dominate?