World record at Assynt Games

There was great excitement at the weekend at the Assynt Highland Games in Lochinver, when Colin Dunbar of California USA broke the SHGA world record for throwing the weight over the bar.

Colin, who is 6ft 8ins, threw the 56lb weight over a height of 17ft 4ins, which beat the previous record of 17ft 1.5ins set by Kyrill Chuprinine of Ukraine. That record had stood for 19 years! (Official confirmation is awaited).

The games were very well attended this year despite inclement weather, and there was an additional attraction in the MacRae Hill Race, an advanced race over nine km with a climb of 400 metres. The race has been established in memory of Allan MacRae, the remarkable and highly respected co-founder of the Assynt Crofters and winner of the Ben Nevis Race. The race was well contested and was won by Jake Stephenson of North Yorkshire in an amazing time of 40m 45s. He claims the new Alan MacRae trophy.

Chieftain of the games was Duncan Hutchison, the Lochinver man whose bid last year to complete a west to east row across the Atlantic ended just 860 miles from Land’s End, when his hand-built boat Sleipnir suffered navigational and electrical failure.

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