Picture this: a husky lad, broad of shoulder, stout of torso, and rough of hand, chooses a rounded smooth stone weighing about 20 pounds from the riverbed, runs a few steps, and with one hand tosses the stone in front of his shoulder. If you can picture this scene, you have just conjured up the event called The Shot, one of the heavyweight sports engaged in inevery Scottish Highland Games, from the small intimate gatherings and small Highland towns to the large, elaborate, and prestigious games of international fame.

The Shot is perhaps oldest among heavyweight sports, and because it does not require special equipment, or in human strength, young lads take it up early, practicing with treasured stones they have gathered themselves from riverbeds. There is no standard way for the stone, and the variation in weights is astoundingly large, from 13 pounds used at Tomintoul to the 28 pound shot used at Glen Isla and Braemar. It is easy to see that comparing distance records of competitors between different Highland games is virtually impossible. However, in modern times stones which were traditionally used have been largely replaced at most of the gatherings by an iron sphere which is of one of two sizes, either 16 pounds or 22 pounds. This makes the comparisons between competitors at different gatherings much more possible.

This shot or weight is grasped in one hand and thrown as far as possible from in front of the contestant's shoulder. The competitor is allowed to to run a few steps, but not more than 71/2 feet, which for most people amounts to no more than two steps. The competitor must stop running before he reaches the trig, a piece of wood barely 4 feet long and half a foot high. From the trig he must toss the shot.

And how far is it possible to throw such a heavy stone with one hand, when one can run only two steps before the toss? Well, Geoff Capes, the international strongman who holds both the Scottish and the Crieff Ground records, for both the 16 pounds in the 22 pound shots, has toss the things unbelievable distances. In 1982 he tossed a 22 pound shot 53'4". It appears that he still holds this record. In that same year, at which he must've been at the height of his skill and strength, he tossed the 16 pound shot 65'3".

At gatherings in the Scottish Highlands where these competitions go on every summer, new lads try their hand at the shot, and eventually Geoff's record will be broken, but in the meantime he is the man to beat, and you can bet that strongmen all over Scotland are itching to do just that.