Scots giants the highlight at annual Highland gathering
Scots giants the highlight at annual Highland gathering
TANGERANG (JP): Imported giants tossed tree trunks around, men
wore skirts and danced with each other and musicians played
instruments that on any other occasion would have sent people
running in the opposite direction.
Such was the tone of the 23rd Jakarta Highland Gathering
yesterday at Lippo Karawaci, when the Scottish community
presented to the rest of the city a selection of its historical
culture.
The highlight was the heavy events. Four men, whose combined
weight was close to half a ton, were flown in specially from
Scotland to demonstrate how Highland warriors used to keep fit
between wars with the English.
They threw the highland hammer, a weight (20-odd kilos) for
distance, a weight over a bar and tossed the caber -- a five-
meter-long tree trunk -- to cheers from the thousands of people
present.
Other traditional Scottish events included piping
competitions, for which entrants had come from all over Australia
and Southeast Asia, and highland dancing. The individual star of
the latter was the gathering's chieftain, June Buchannan, while
Bob Dover's team won the Reel of the 51st competition.
Indonesian teams won most of the more well-known sports, with
ARCO taking the men's volleyball and PNG/British Gas the women's.
Amigo's giants won the heavyweight tug-of-war and their other
team took the lightweight category. In the mini-rugby competition
the Batavia Bears dominated from start to finish.
For the less sportsmad spectators there were displays of
Balinese war dancing, a marching band from Trisakti University,
an equestrian display from the Sentul lancers and log chopping by
Australian axmen.
Twenty-one skydivers dropped in to entertain the crowd at
lunchtime. The gusting wind made conditions difficult -- one
landed on a nearby roof, several fell into trees and one
disappeared out of sight.
The finale was a massed band marchpast involving most of the
musicians present followed by a spectacular fireworks display.
Gordon Fenton, a member of the organizing committee, said he
was thrilled with the way the event had run. "Everything has gone
extremely well. There has been plenty to see and do all day.
"And the move to Lippo has been a great success. We have given
the three million people who live out here the opportunity to
experience something that they are unlikely to ever have seen
before."
He said any profit made from the gathering would be given to
charity. (John Aglionby)