Friday most athletes arrive
for Saturday competition.
Each MWC has started with a
social and banquet the night before the competition (Friday evening).
2001
Informal reception at one of the organizers homes with food provided free of
charge to the athletes and host organizers
2002 informal picnic at a nearby park
2003 formal prime rib dinner at the banquet room of the athletes’ hotel for
which the athletes and family members were charged $10 each
2004 Informal gathering at host hotel party room with food provided free of
charge to the athletes
2005 Informal – athletes on their own
2006 Gathering at festival grounds with entertainment
2007 the clans provided a pig roast picnic dinner for athletes on Friday.
2008 Spaghetti dinner at local VFW facility
2009 Banquet for athletes, families and friends and VIPs (see gallery pix)
Any
activity on Friday should be done early in the evening as athletes don't want to
be up late.
Athletes were checked in
Friday evening and each was given a competition T-shirt and the light weights
weighed in. Often the necessary gate
passes were given out at check-in as were the participation medals and goodie
bags (2007, 2008 and 2009)
Each of the one-day
competition MWCs has been on a Saturday. The schedule has mostly gone something
like this:
The 2005, 2006 and 2009 MWCs were
two-day competitions.
The 2005 MWC was split with
half the classes competing on Saturday and the other half on Sunday. Both days
progressed as the one-day games described above. The awards ceremony for all
classes was held on Sunday at the end of competition. The primary drawback of
this type of competition is that it divides the competitors with some Sunday
athletes not coming in until Saturday evening and some Saturday competitors
leaving before Sunday. Thus, denying many of their presence and limiting some of
the camaraderie.
The 2006 and 2009 MWC saw all
competitors on the field both days with the split being in the events. Each
class competed in half of their events each day. This worked quite well with all
athletes having plenty of time for their events as well as time to visit on the
field and watch other classes. This was also good for the spectators as they had
a chance to see all the athletes each day and the big events such as caber were
continuous through out both days. There was food and entertainment provided to
the athletes both Friday and Saturday nights. Sunday in 06 was an informal gathering
organized separately from the games and in 09 there was meal tickets and
entertainment provided at the awards ceremony.
Athletics Areas
2001, 2002 and 2004 all
were held in their normal athletic areas which were adequate to the size of
competition. 2003 and 2007 enlarged
their normal athletic area into areas which were accessible to festival
attendees. 2005 added an area (near
festival parking) away from the main festival grounds where stones and light
hammers were competed in the morning. The
remainder of the events were competed at the center of the festival grounds in a
bowl-like area with great spectator room and numbers.
2006 and 2009 (Inverness) added two additional competition areas for caber and
stones/weights. The other events
were contested in the big stadium. The
other areas were outside the stadium area in the middle of the music, dancing
and other activities area. This
attracted great crowds to all three areas and allowed for great viewing by
spectators. 2008 expanded their
athletic area out into what is normally general festival area.
They had multiple covered bleachers and a beer garden all in perfect
viewing of many of the events. 2007,
2008 and 2009 both utilized the flags of all athletes’ nations within the athletic
area.
General Info for all MWC competitions
The MWC holds competition
in eleven different classes. Men’s classes: 40-44 years, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59,
60-64, 65-69 and 70+, and 40-49 and 50+ under 200 pounds plus Women’s: 40-49
and 50+. A person’s age the day of
competition determines their age class. The Under-200 athletes must weigh in
either the night before or at the field the day of competition before they
compete and must weigh 200 pounds or less.
Number of Athletes:
2001
Fort Smith, Arkansas, MWC #1 had 38 athletes
2002 Sacramento, California, had 65
athletes
2003 Springfield, Illinois, had 68
athletes
2004 Winston, Oregon, a rather
remote location, had only 38
2005 New Hampshire had 60
2006 Inverness, Scotland, had 72
athletes.
2007 McPherson, Kansas, had 90
athletes
2008 Saline, Michigan, had 78
athletes
2009 Inverness, Scotland had 82 athletes
The fields for all years
since 2001 except 2004 have been large (some with multiple venues) with 2 hammer
cages/trigs, two weight-over-the-bar standards, two weights for distance trigs
and two stone trigs. In 2003, 2007
and 2008 there were also two sheaf standards.
All MWCs have contested 8
events: 16# open stone, 22# Braemar or standing stone, 28# and 42# weights for
distance, 16# and 22# hammers, 42# weight over the bar, and caber. The 2003,
2007 and 2008 MWCs (one day competitions) also contested the 16# sheaf toss for
a 9th event.
Some MWCs have had just one
caber per class with each athlete getting three attempts at the one. Others have
had a series of three cabers with each increasing in difficulty. In this case
athletes normally get only one or two attempts at the first or easiest caber
then as long as they turn each caber they get three attempts an each successive
caber with the best turn on the most difficult caber counting as their score.
The conduct of the caber is always determined by local custom.
Typically the athletes all
pay a registration fee to compete in the MWC. The fee was $25 to $30 the first
few years. In 2006 the fee was $65 and in 2007 and 2008 and 2009 it was $55. However, in
both of these last four years all the athletes received gifts of value.
2006
each athlete received an embroidered windshirt
2007 each athlete received a participation medal and a goodie bag
2008 each athlete received a participation medal and an embroidered gym bag with
goodies
2009 embroidered polo shirt and goodie bag
In any case, SMAI retains
$5 to $10 of each entry fee to help cover it’s expenses for the games (on of
which is an embroidered patch for each athlete and official).
Entry is open to all
Scottish athletes and the only qualification other than age is that they must
have competed in five Scottish athletic competitions during the year prior to
the games but this requirement is sometimes waived under special circumstances.
Awards have varied from plaques for the first three places in each class to swords for the winners and plaques for other places. In 2003 the awards consisted of plaques for the winners as well as World Championship rings. Smaller plaques were awarded for second through fourth place and medals were given to the first three places in each individual event. A description of the rings can be found on the masters web site www.scottishmasters.org on the "World Champs" page. In succeeding years the winning athletes have had the opportunity to purchase their own rings rather than the games awarding them. 2005 awards were silver plates (first) and pewter mugs (second and third). In 2006 the awards were crystal whisky decanters and glasses with the MWC emblem. In each case medals were awarded to the first three places in each event (272 medals). The 2007 games awarded each athlete a “participation” medal, medals for the first three places in each event and plaques for the first three places in each class. In 2008 each athlete again received a participation medal as well as place medals and class awards which were etched granite stones. In 2009 the awards were essentially the same as 06 but different in color.
We have a computerized scoring program which keeps all the scores and prints out a certificate for each athlete complete with his/her results for each event. We also have had a person who has been the scorekeeper for all the games and who is paid for her services as well as receiving a complementary hotel room for the games. Unfortunately, this person has retired but the program remains available.
You should plan to consult
other pages on this website for more information about past MWCs as well as this
year’s competition. There in the
gallery pages you will find pictures of the fields and the awards.
In 2007 and 2008 bus
transportation was provided to and from the athletes’ hotels.
However, this service was not well used by the athletes who prefer to
drive to the field because of all their equipment.
Financial:
In
2006 at Inverness it was estimated that the games brought 300,000 pounds into
the local economy. These games
changed to a two-day games for the first time for the MWC.
They now remain a two-day games.
In
2007 the gate was increased on the day of our competition by 3 to 4 thousand
dollars
In
2008 athletics cost $10,139 for the actual games. Best estimate by the
food chair that the athletes got about $400-500 worth of food and the bus chair
thinks that the extra bus service cost about $600.
It rained in the
morning so the gate effect was difficult to determine.
SMAI
purchased the medals in 2006, 2008 and 2009. In
2008 the cost was $1,500 for the 310 event medals and 100 participation medals
(also given to each official). SMAI
purchases the 100 patches each year which cost about $250 each.
Below are the designs utilized for the patches and medals for the last three MWCs. Each athlete received a participation medal and a patch. The patches were purchased by SMAI and the participation medals by the festival. The participation medal cost for 2008 was $494.00 for 100 medals. In each case, SMAI did the purchasing for the medals.
Inverness moved from a one day festival to two days. As a result they greatly increased their gate proceeds as well as did all the vendors. They also kept visitors in Inverness more days.
New Hampshire, Inverness, McPherson and Saline all expanded the area of the athletic venue. New Hampshire added a field separate from the festival grounds (actually in the parking area) where the stones, light distances and hammers were competed in the morning. The remainder of the events were competed in the afternoon at center stage of the festival. Attendees could not help but become spectators. There were vendors and beer tents immediately adjacent to the athletics area. Inverness added two additional areas: one for stones and weights and one for caber. These were separate from the stadium area and each other. This allowed more spectators a close view of events. The other areas were placed near vendors and other activities which attracted numbers of people to those parts of the park. McPherson expanded the athletic field by taking some of the area formerly used for entertainment and dancing venues. This put the events in the new area even closer to the center of the festival park and the vendor area and attracted more spectators. There was also a covered picnic area next to the new area. Saline greatly expanded their athletic area to accomidate the increased number of event areas. The athletics area at all of these games occupies a central position on the festival grounds.
McPherson instituted the practice of giving each athlete a participation medal which was of a quality equal to that of the event medals but slightly different in color/design. Saline and Inverness continued this practice with participation medals which were a bit smaller but of greater quality than the event medals.
McPherson put together goodie bags filled with useful stuff for the athletes: first aid materials, sun screen, ... These bags were sponsored by Walgreens Drug. Saline continued this practice providing each athlete with a small gym bag with the MWC-Saline logo embroidered on the top and filled with goodies which included a jar of very good tacky.
All games have provided lunch for the athletes. Springfield provided vouchers good at a couple of the food vendors. Others have furnished lunch such as Subway sandwiches and pizza. All have provided water and some have provided sports drink such as Gatorade. Saline provided pizza for lunch, fruit all day and Subway six-foot subs in the afternoon. Inverness in 2006 provided lunches and a bar-b-que dinner on Saturday evening. In 2009 Inverness provided lavish banquets on Fri and Sat evenings as well as Sat and Sun lunches with a vendor meal ticket on Sun evening.
