Dublin TX Highland Games & St. Patrick’s Day Festival

The little town of Dublin TX (Irish Capitol of Texas, so says Rick Perry!) is the site of the Dublin Highland Games. This year we got to throw on Saturday the 17th, St. Patricks Day itself.

Dublin is a small town with a huge heart; the people are out in droves at the parade and fairgrounds. Everything is done up in green, from the painted shamrocks on the intersections, festival signs, streamers and all the fabulous dressed up in their best Irish outfits. Lots of good food, fun and frivolity, and even historical re-enactment!

It was a beautiful day, not too sunny, little wind and no rain; it couldn’t have been a more suitable day for throwing. There was a big class, for the men and masters divisions. The women’s class was 4 throwers, and it was an excellent showing for the ladies.

As always the festival atmosphere at Dublin is great, with a crowd of people always moving in and around the throwers, hooting and hollering for the big throws and everyone loves the caber toss. Dave and Nancy (who also host the Salado Highland Games) do an amazing job and make the day easy and enjoyable.

I was very pleased with my throwing that day, and picked up some good scores as my sheaf is coming together, and my stones are moving in the right direction (i.e. farther away from me!). The best part is always the people, spending a day with the fun Highland games people makes all the travel worth while and enjoying a laugh with everyone is the best part of the day.

The drive home reminded me that Texas is a surprisingly beautiful place.

April & May Catchup!

Pardon our long quiet spell.

There is a monstrous amount to catch up on so I’ll try to keep it brief!

April 30/May 1
Scarborough Faire went off without a hitch and all involved had a great time. The ladies places were:
1 – Brittney Boswell
2 – Miranda Vahle
3 – Sarah Densmore
4 – Kim Dotson

May 7/8 – Th’ Gatherin’ - Wakeeney, KS
There was a huge class of women at this games – 13 in total. There were 3 teams of 4 and one single. It was a great day of competition and both myself and Brittney (the traveling Texans) were on the winning team, “Magically Malicious” . Hot, dry and windy, the people were amazing and the after party was first class.

May 14/15 – Wichita, KS
2nd Annual Wichita Highland Games and Celtic Festival
Brittney also made it out to these games and placed a very excellent second with a number of personal bests!

In our thoughts:
Joplin, MO held their highland games last weekend and sadly a tornado ripped through the lovely little town. None of the highland games people that we know of where injured. However there were 116 lives lost that weekend and I’m sure all would appreciate it if you can keep them in your thoughts.

Upcoming:

June 3-5
Texas Scottish Festival, Arlington, TX


June 10-12
Kansas City Games

San Antonio Games Results

The San Antonio Highland Games were a complete success!

There were 6 women competing, crowd & supporters were loud and cheering all day, and the weather was beautiful.

This was the second invitation that women throwers have had to these games, and I’m proud that the competition was so excellent and that women had a very exciting showing for the crowd.

The overall winner on the day was a Southern Carolina athlete, Kelly Niklason. Our own native Texan Brittney Boswell was second. The field was rounded out by 3 more Texan residents: Tammy Kentner, Sarah Densmore, and newcomer to the games Lisa Moretta. This was the very first games that Lisa competed in and she did great! The final competitor was Tomasina Miller from Louisiana. Tomasina blew us all away in the sheaf toss, she is a natural! (photo of Tomasina in action)

There were a lot of personal records for the women set that day and I believe some field records were made as well. The scores are yet to come out on the NSAGA website. When they do I will be sure to update the final places.

The festival itself was fantastic; lots of music, dogs, Celtic wares, sporting and traditional displays, and Clans were there to browse. The men’s and masters completed both Saturday and Sunday. There were a number of World Records that were broken by the masters.

Iron Thistle Weekend Results!

NASGA's handy dandy database has been undated and the results from this weekend are in for all the athletes and it can be found LINKED HERE.

• Use the drop down in the "Results" section.


• Select the games you are looking for.


• Hit select button and viola!

Sounds like it was a COLD one. Great job to our Texans who got 2nd and 5th in the womens class...and best of all... some pretty big throws! Way to go ladies!