The 2008 World Champions in Highland Dancing, awarded at Argyll’s Cowal Gathering are:
- Juvenile: Morgan Bamford, New Zealand
- Junior: Alexandra Matthews, Ontario
- Adult: David Wilton, Forfar
Full details are here, compiled by Highland Scrutineer.
Tag Archives: highland dancing
2008 Cowal Gathering has a gallon of whisky for one Drum Major, over 3,000 competitors…
… and is expecting a record of 20,000 spectators this year. Big attractions are the World Championships in Highland Dancing and the Cowal Pipe Band Championships, with Scottish bands faced with teams from America, Canada and New Zealand in a total of 130 pipe bands competing over three days.
The most innovative event, for sheer daft fun, is a clever marriage of two popular activities – pipe bands and heavy sports – the Mace Over the Bar Competition for Adult Drum Majors. This is scheduled for 4.00pm on Saturday (30th August) at the west end of the main arena. Again this year, the high bar will at its highest setting. All participants will get two attempts to get their mace over the bar, catching it on its way down the other side. If more than one Drum Major manages this then the one that is judged to have done it with the most style and flourish will be the winner and will receive a gallon – yes a gallon – of whisky, £50 and a Cowal medal. The Drum Major placed second will get £30, a bottle of Cowal Gathering whisky and a Cowal medal; and third place is given £20, a bottle of Cowal Gathering whisky and a Cowal medal.
This one just has to be seen. Question is – how long will the gallon last?
Four days to go until the Cowal Gathering – 27th-30th August
Argyll’s Cowal Gathering is the largest Highland Games in the world and this year’s games promises the greatest variety of entertainment yet. The heart of any games – the super-strong athletes tossing the caber and, here, putting the Cowal Stone, will share the spotlight with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on a burn in the Ceilidh Tent. Add the pipe bands – with Argyll’s bands in their last major competition of the year, highland dancers and children’s entertainers of all kinds and you get a sense of the event organisers’ intentions.
2008 Cowal Gathering set to break records
In its hundred and fourteenth year, the 2008 Cowal Gathering, at Dunoon from 28th to 30th August, will see around 3,500 competitors from Canada, America and New Zealand. There will be huge audiences for, among many traditional sporting events, the World Highland Dance competition and the Cowal Pipe Band Championship, the second most prestigious in the world.