World Highland Games Championships

History

The World Highland Games Championships were first held in 1980 and were created as an attempt to identify who was truly the greatest Highland Games competitor. Many of the Highland Games competitions around the world have traditionally not been invitational, in the sense that novices can step up to compete, or at the more established events, the competitors were very much more selected from the nation in which the competition was held.

The world's introduced a formalization of the requirements for entry and a truly international flavour. Since the passing of David Webster in 2023, the responsibility of managing and directing the World Highland Games Championships was transferred to Steve Conway and Dr. Bill Crawford. Tommy De Bruijn and Thomas Kincaid are also current prominent figures within the championships' management.

Over the years competitors have been drawn from the disciplines of field athletics, including the shot put, discus and hammer throw, as well as strength athletes and dedicated Highland Games specialists.

In the history of the championships, there have been 21 champions representing five countries, with four men each having won the title five times, Geoff Capes, Jim McGoldrick, Ryan Vierra and Matt Sandford, and one of those, Capes having also won the 1981 World Highland Games Championships held in Lagos, which would make him six times world champion, although this is not listed on the official website.

List of champions

List information taken from this source.

• Source of the above information: Official World Championship site of the IHGF.

Championships by country

Repeat champions

References

References

1. [http://www.worldheavyevents.com/documents/32.html Roll of Honour]
2. "Table of final results (1978 - present)".
3. Although the IHGF state on their official website that Geoff Capes won the World Heavy Championship in 1983 in Lagos in their IHGF Champions page ([http://www.worldheavyevents.com/documents/29.html here]) the 1983 championship finals were held in Carmunnock, as stated in the Development section of IHGF's same website ([http://www.worldheavyevents.com/documents/31.html here]). The location of the 1983 championships being Carmunnock is corroborated by Emily Ann Donaldson in her book ''The Scottish Highland Games in America'' (Emily Ann Donaldson, ''The Scottish Highland Games in America'', p19, Pelican Publishing, 1986, {{ISBN. 1-56554-560-5, {{ISBN. 978-1-56554-560-1). In Donaldson's book, it is mentioned that a World Championship was held in [[Lagos]] in 1981 and Capes won this. The book states that the World Heavy Events Championships was also held in 1981 in Melbourne. From this evidence, it would seem that there were two World Championships held in 1981, both sponsored by the IHF. Further corroborating the existence of the 1981 Lagos World Championships is the profile of Geoff Capes written by the founder of the IHF, David Webster, who states that Capes won his first world title in 1981 in Lagos. (David Webster, Sons of Samson Volume 2 Profiles, page 78 (Ironmind Enterprises), {{ISBN. 0-926888-06-4). Further still, on his official website, Capes states that he was six times world champion.
4. [http://clangathering.org/news/view/41 The Gathering 2009 Official website]
5. [https://www.activeweekender.com/attending-the-2014-world-highland-games-heavy-events-championships/ The 2014 World Highland Games Heavy Events Championships]
6. (15 June 2015). "The IHGF Worlds in Bressuire: And the winner is...Dan McKIM - HIGHLAND GAMES BRESSUIRE, le blog français-anglais d'Alain Cadu".
7. "Dan McKim Wins IHGF World Highland Games Championships".
8. "Spencer Tyler Wins Webster Worlds".