Kilts
The one essential piece of equipment to compete in the highland games... a kilt!
For top-quality Scottish formal wear, we recommend our local Scottish tailor, Scotland Shop in Latham, NY.
For competition kilts, we recommend Sport Kilt. This kilts are affordable, machine washable, and ideal for the highland games. Use offer code ETC24 at checkout to receive 10% off your order. Pro tip: Spring for pockets!
Gear
Some training gear is cheap. Throwing stones? No problem, go down to the creek with a fish or luggage scale and pick yourself some winners.
Weights and hammers are a little harder to improvise, and there is no substitute for practicing with real, legal weights. We at ETC use Landrich Power Systems for all our weights. Reliable, made in NY, and the price is right.
There are plenty of other manufacturers of fine equipment out there as well:
Information
If you are just starting to learn about the games, you are on the edge of a deep rabbit hole. Don't worry.
A good place to start is NASGAWEB.com. This site not only serves as the most widely used database of game scores and records in North America, but also has some straightforward pages outlining standard competition rules. For rankings and games results, we also want to support HeavyAthlete.com, a newer database with a lot of cool features and easier search tools, plus a complete clone of all scores from the NASGA database.Â
A lot of professional highland games athletes have youtube channels where they provide throwing guidance for absolutely free. If you search around, you will find someone you really like to learn from, but good places to start would be Matt Vincent's "Going Deep" series or Empowered Strength.
To learn about upcoming events in the northeast and connect with other throwers, join Empire Throwing Club, Buffalo Heavies, and New England Highland Games Athletics on facebook.