Records galore as Caledonian Games pull the punters

By Peter de Graaf
It was a day of records in Waipu - a record crowd, record number of clans, three new heavyweight records, and a record 10th national title for Auckland cop Pat Hellier.
Hellier cleaned up at the 135th Waipu Highland Games yesterday, winning the heavyweight championships for the tenth year running, despite a muscular challenge from Australian Craig Reid.
Organisers were delighted by the turnout of up to 9000, boosted by the sunshine and a shift to January 2 instead of the usual New Year's Day.
Hundreds competed in Highland dancing, piping, drumming, running and heavy field events, but most attention was focused on nine hulking men fighting for the heavyweight title.
Howick policeman Pat Hellier set the tone early on, breaking the games record in the first event by throwing a 22lb (10kg) stone 13.71m.
He went on to set two more records by throwing a 22lb hammer 32.89m and a 56lb (25kg) Gaelic deadweight 11.43m.
His final score was just 1 points short of a perfect 80.
Australian challenger Craig Reid - also a policeman - finished second, and New Zealand's strongest man Reuben de Jong third.
De Jong towers 2.07m, weighs 140kg and pulls 17-tonne trucks without breaking a sweat.
Tossing the caber proved the toughest event, with only Hellier and Reid managing to flip the 60kg telephone pole end over end.
The same wind that fanned a blaze in Paihia made the sheaf and caber tossing events extra difficult - and played havoc with kilts.
Hellier, who is training for the Commonwealth Games hammer throw, promised to return next year for an 11th crack at the title.
This win was especially satisfying as he had injured his back when a weight broke at the Paihia games last year.
"The Waipu games are the New Zealand heavyweight champs, so there's a bit of mana riding on it," he said.
Other highlights of the day included a mass pipe band, drawing together almost 50 pipers and 30 drummers, and a mass Highland fling of more than 50 dancers.
For the first time at the Waipu games, Te Aroha-based Clan Alba re-enacted Scottish battle techniques from the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, complete with period costumes and weaponry.
Clan member Steve Hill said the failed uprising was a turning point for Scotland, marking the start of the land clearances and the banning of bagpipes.
It also sparked the worldwide exodus of Scots that ultimately led them to Waipu.
Fellow clan member Steve Tate - sporting a fearsome beard and mane of hair - said Irish, Scottish and Maori blood flowed in his veins, but his Scottish heritage moved him most.
"Just listen to the skirl of the bagpipes and the beating of the drums.
"If that don't get your heart fluttering, I don't know what will."
The only emergency of the day occurred on the usually sedate Highland country dancing stage, when a Whangarei club tutor slipped and fractured her arm.
She was stretchered off to rousing applause from club members.
Waipu Caledonian Society treasurer Dawn Leader put the crowd at between 7000 and 9000, well up on last year's 4000 and a record for recent one-day games.
The number of clans represented, 18, was also a record.
The only thing missing at the games was organiser Brian O'Brien, who was at home recuperating from cancer surgery.
It was the first games he had missed in 12 years.
Our montage shows:
Top: Drum Major Gary Sigley leads an ear-splitting mass band drawing together pipers from eight bands around the country.
Bottom left: Clan Alba's Holly Whittingham, 3-years-old, of Te Aroha, Waikato.
Bottom right: Nigel Edwards of Auckland in the Highland Stone section.