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)