The Heavies (Sponsored by Corona Extra)
Watch the huge men mountains from all over the world competing for the coveted Cowal Championships. As well as the spectacular Caber Toss there are many other disciplines including Shot Putting the famous Cowal Stone and the traditional Scottish Hammer Throw. Always an exciting spectacle!
At 34lbs the Cowal Stone is twice the weight of the standard shot putt.
The heavy athletics events at Cowal attract some of the top heavy competitors in the world. Regular competitors at cowal include Jason Young who has been cowal champion 8 out of the last 11 years, Mark McDonald a past World Masters Heavy Athletics champion and Graeme Allan also a past cowal champion. We also attract some of the top overseas competitors, in 2008 Tommy De Bruin, the Belgian heavy athletics champion competed and performed well but ultimately missed out to Jason Young. Marcus Vortreide from Germany also makes the trip to Dunoon regularly to pit himself against Scotlands best.
The male heavy athletes compete on Friday afternoon and on the Saturday afternoon when they are joined by their female counterparts.
The Cowal Championship consists of several events including putting the 16lb ball, throwing 28lb weight for distance, 16lb Scots style hammer throw, 56lb weight for height, tossing the caber and the famous Cowal Stone. Which is twice the weight of the normal shot putt.
The caber toss is always the last event to take place on the Saturday and is normally held right next to the hillside in order to be as close to the crowd as possible. In recent year's our sponsor, Corona Extra, have offered a special £500 prize to the althlete that successfully tosses the giant Tilhill caber. However so far it is not been done and the money is as yet unclaimed. Will this be the year??????
Tossing the caber is all about balance as well as strength. It is vital to get the caber upright and balanced against your shoulder.
Then you have to set off and build up some momentum whilst ensuring the caber does not lean forward or back.
Once you feel you have adequatr momentum you have to heave the caber up and away from you. The goal is to get the top of the caber to hit the ground first and then fall over away from you.
The competitor who achieves this and whose caber lies nearest the 12 oclock position wins.
The heavies competition is always fiercly competitive but there is always a sense of fun around them. They are all entertainers as well as seasoned competitors and love nothing more than to thrill the crowd with their strength and skill, and occaisonally their madcap antics!