Staff report

Typical Scottish weather provided the appropriate atmosphere Saturday for the 2017 Kachemak Bay Scottish Club Highland Games at Karen Hornaday Park. Chilly temperatures and a wee bit of mist didn’t dampen the spirits of men and women athletes — and a few bairns, or children — competing in the games. Events included the Braeburn stone toss, weight for distance and weight for height, the hammer throw, the caber toss, the sheaf throw, the kilted mile, and the Homer-only halibut and salmon toss.

Jeni McDaniel of Anchorage, above, right, provided some drama as she broke the field record of 17.5 feet in the sheaf toss. In the sheaf toss, athletes throw a burlap bag of straw with a pitchfork over a bar, trying to get the highest throw. After she broke the record, she could keep throwing to set new records.

McDaniel did, raising the bar 6-inches at a time, breaking her own record seven times and setting a new record of 22 feet. At top, left, she prepares for a throw.

The next generation of athletes got a start in the children’s games. At center, Dave Bran gives Torrin Bartlett some tips in the child’s caber toss. Children use carboard rolls, not heavy logs.