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Bill Bailey - Super-Master

Inducted September 21, 2008, New Hampshire Highland Games

Bill Bailey with his HOF plaque and Bill just after receiving his plaque from John Lundstrom,
athletic director of the Loon Mountain games for many years, a close friend of Bill's and the
person responsible for Bill Bailey having taken up the Scottish heavy games.

Bill Bailey was a standout in Scottish masters athletics as the MILO article reprinted in part below illustrates. He was also an absolute gentleman and a pleasure to compete with on the athletic field. Bill won the Masters World Championship in the 60-64 age class at Winston, Oregon, in 2004. In 2005 he took second at the MWC in New Hampshire while suffering from an undiagnosed (at the time) case of legionnaire's disease. Shortly after the New Hampshire games Bill suffered a devastating work injury just one month before retirement. The injury has forced an end to Bill's brilliant athletic career.

The following is a portion of an article written by Wayne Hill and is included courtesy of IronMind Enterprises; reprinted with permission from MILO: A Journal for Serious Strength Athletes, June 2005, Vol. 13, No. 1.

If you’re like most people, when you think of a highland games athlete who’s over 60 years of age, the image that comes to mind is not Bill
Bailey. Bill’s stronger, faster, more athletic and, most of all, one heck of a lot more explosive than you’d expect. So, forget the name jokes: this guy’s the real deal. He’s the prototype in the heavy events for the older athlete of the future. We can all try to emulate him in due course, but most of us can’t hope to do it as well as he does.

Paradigm shift

I met Bill Bailey at the Southern New Hampshire Scottish Games early last season [2004]. One look at this lean 63-year-old man told me he was in great shape. Then I thought about it … Bill Bailey, Bill Bailey … and realized that this must be the multiple world record holder I saw listed on the Scottish Masters website (http://www.scottishmasters.org). Okay, now I was paying attention.

Glasgow Lands Games,
Look Park,
Northampton, Massachusetts.

As we moved from event to event, Bill put on a clinic about what being an older athlete can mean. Putting the Braemar stone, a standing throw of a 22-lb stone, he had a lot more pop than I’d ever seen from a man his age, and got distances typical for men half his age. Moving on to the open stone, a 16-lb stone that he throws from a spin, his coordination and explosiveness really came to the fore. With the weight for distance events, it was clear that Bill is a phenomenon. His performance was the epitome of athleticism: fast, coordinated, strong, and explosive. On any given day, he could clearly beat the best of the athletes in his 60-64 year age group.

This drama played out in relative obscurity, as we poor masters were throwing separately from most of the other athletes. The young guys, including several of the top amateurs in the U.S. , were competing on the other side of the field, and were intent on their own competition. They had no idea what we were experiencing with Bill Bailey on the field. Late in the day, the organizers brought all of the athletes – amateurs, masters, and women – together for the caber toss. As the cabers were brought out, Bill remarked, “I like cabers!” Well, I guess he does. With the eyes of all of the athletes and spectators focused on him, he gripped the 19’3”, 100-lb caber and picked it (popped it up into his knitted hands) like it was nothing. I heard one of the amateurs say, “That looked easy!” Bill balanced the caber against his shoulder and moved forward, gradually picking up speed with obvious ease. The young guys were really watching now. He hit the brakes, dipped for his pull, and – POW! The caber flew out of his hands and turned easily in the air. Eyes popped and jaws hit the ground at this unexpected demonstration of explosiveness. Our amateurs suddenly realized that this guy is something else.

Seconds before Bill Bailey amazed the crowd by “Bravehearting” the Caber. Glasgow Lands Games, Look Park, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Bill has a strong competitive streak. He’s not happy just to be out there throwing things around. He strives to throw farther today than he did yesterday. In the manner of a true gentleman, he wants his competition to do their very best, because it makes it all the sweeter when he beats them fair and square. Bill also likes a challenge. At two games, the cabers used for the masters were just too easy for him. While the other competitors were busy looking for downward slopes that might help them turn one, Bill just went and turned them. Dr. Bill “Slingblade” Crawford took Bill aside and said, “Look, Bill, you gotta show ‘em who’s boss. On your last attempt, take two steps with the caber and Braveheart it.” You need to move with the caber to establish your direction of motion to get a meaningful score, so the practical minimum is taking two steps. Tossing a caber this way is a feat of strength that is impressive to see. On both occasions, Bill picked the caber, took two steps, and turned it explosively: POW!

Who is this guy?

Born and raised in Salem , NH , Bill is a heavy equipment operator for the town’s department of public works. He’s happily married to his wife of 6 years, Chris, who is always there to cheer him on. As a lifelong devotee to strength, Bill had always kept himself in good shape, but aside from little league baseball and high school basketball, he had no experience with organized sports. He trains with weights and, at 6’ tall and 220 lbs, can clean and push press his bodyweight. Bearing in mind the age class results in Olympic weightlifting, it looks like Bill has serious potential there as well. Bill has also shouldered the 238 lb stone of strength at Loon Mountain.

Bill Bailey with wife Chris,
Quechee Polo Grounds, Vermont.

Bill came to the highland games relatively late in life. He first saw them at the New Hampshire Highland Games at Loon Mountain in 1987, and began throwing as an amateur in 1989 at the age of 48. Since there were no masters competitions in New England at the time, he competed as an amateur until the age of 53, when John Lundstrom introduced masters competition at Loon. He is a natural: with no previous track and field experience, he was undefeated in the highland games in New England as an amateur in 1991. He was 50 years old.

Bill has also tried his hand at powerlifting. In 2001, at 60 years of age, he entered the USPF New Hampshire State Powerlifting Championships. He squatted 400 lbs, benched 310, and deadlifted 470 (an 1180 total). All of these lifts, and the total, were age group state records. He competed once more that year, at the APF Nationals in Bath , Maine , scoring lifts of 402, 289, and 501, for a total of 1192. With his performance in Maine , he qualified to go to the WPC World Powerlifting Championships in South Africa , but didn’t make the trip. His lifts place him high in the Master classification for the USPF 60-64 year age group, and within striking distance of Elite.

An excellent season

In August [2004], Bill went to Winston , Oregon , to compete in the 60-64 year age class at the Highland Games Masters World Championships. Despite meeting arguably the best competitors in the US , he won the class convincingly. He took first in 5 of the 8 events and came in second in the other three (missing tying for first place in the light hammer by just ¼”, and in caber by 5 minutes, despite having one perfect 12:00).

Although pleased with his championship, Bill’s season was not yet complete. His favorite event is the sheaf toss, a seemingly simple throw of a heavy sack over a bar using a pitch fork. It’s a devilishly difficult event, though, because it just doesn’t seem possible to put much power into it. Consequently, it is a test of explosiveness over a limited range of motion. The 16 lb sheaf wasn’t competed at any of his games through the World Championships, so Bill was looking forward to tossing it at the Quechee Scottish Festival at the polo grounds in Quechee , Vermont . Bill hinted that a new world record might result, and so it did. He made the sheaf soar over a 28’6” bar, improving his previous record for the 60-64 year age class by 6”, and just 6” shy of his own standing record for the 55-59 year age class.

Getting ready for a world record toss of 28’-6” at the Quechee Polo Grounds. Wayne Hill writes: “Competing two weeks in a row is asking a lot of any Highland Games athlete, and it was about 100 degrees for both competitions. The spectators were wilting, so Bill’s world record in the sheaf toss is all the more impressive.”

Wayne Hill photos

World records

A world record is nothing new to Bill Bailey. “Pro for life” Jason Pauli quipped that, “After the past two years at Altamont , I thought your full name was ‘Bill Bailey Attempting To Break Another One Of His Records.’” The truth is that, on any given day, Bill could go out and set another age class world record. At this writing, Bill holds 10 world records:

Age 50+=
· 16 lb sheaf toss – 30’4” (1996)

Age 55+
·        28 lb weight for distance – 64’0” (1996)
·        42 lb weight for distance – 44’ 4.5” (1996)
·        16 lb sheaf toss – 29’0” (1998)

Age 60+
·        16 lb open stone – 37’10.25” (2003)
·        42 lb weight for distance – 37’0” (2001)
·        28 lb weight for distance – 56’7” (2003)
·        22 lb hammer – 77’0” (2003)
·        16 lb sheaf toss – 28’6” (2004)
·        42 lb weight over bar – 16’0” (2003)

Bill also holds several world records with lighter weights sometimes used in super-masters competitions. These include a 20 lb weight for distance, a 35 lb weight for distance and height, and a 14 lb sheaf. Bill prefers throwing the heavier weights, but takes pride in all of his records.

Aging with grace

Bill is still strong, coordinated, fast, and explosive, so what’s this aging thing all about? Can’t he just keep going? Well, yes and no.

Off-season, Bill trains twice a week with heavy weights, using a relatively simple workout of a dozen working sets total of power cleans, squats, push presses, and bench press. He does another workout weekly of cardio, abs and stretching. During the highland games season, he tries to maintain the same workout schedule, and adds 3-4 throwing workouts per week. His throwing sessions typically involve 3 events, chosen from:

      ·        15-25 stone throws
·        8-10 throws with the 42 lb weight for distance
·        15-20 throws with the 28 lb weight for distance
·        hammer winds for 20 minutes
·        5-6 caber tosses
·        20-30 sheaf tosses
·        10-15 weight over bar tosses

He clearly can tolerate a lot of training volume, and this no doubt has something to do with his competitive success. Another factor in his favor is that he’s never suffered an athletic injury. Countering these advantages are the fact that he suffers from Type II diabetes, and well, he’s 64 years old, for cryin’ out loud! He just doesn’t recover as quickly as he used to. He now sometimes finds he has to drop a weights or throwing session, and his training volume has gradually fallen over the years. If you’re over 40, you probably already know how this feels. Consequently, although he has pretty much maintained his strength, his performance in the explosive and technically complex highland games events has gradually decreased.

Things to come

The masters athletes in highland games are getting better. As the population ages, there are more of them, of course, but the record throws are increasing rapidly. Even so, Bill’s past records have typically lasted 6-8 years before being bested. He’s ahead of his time. ... there’s no question that Bill Bailey is a class act who has shown us what an aging athlete can be.

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