"We have similar goals to the Fun Day organizers," said Highland Games vice president Amy Kreiter. "We want to have an athletic festival that includes the Games as well as other events that are geared more toward the youth of the area."
The Fun Day festivities start Friday evening with a Twilight 5K run/walk. The 5K race will be on the lighted asphalt of the Harrogate Greenway trail. Preregistrants will meet at 8 p.m. at the Harrogate Park. Those registering on site should be there by 7 p.m. Trophies will be awarded at 10 p.m.
On Saturday an 8K race will begin at Ellen Myers School in Harrogate. The course will go through a 19th century railroad tunnel into the Town of Cumberland Gap and through the Cumberland Gap National Park. From there it will return toward Harrogate, along the Greenway trail and end at the city park. Preregistrants will meet at 8 a.m. at Harrogate City Park. Those registering on site should be there by 7 a.m. Trophies will be awarded at 10:30 a.m.
In addition to the race, Saturdays activities include the Cumberland Gap Highland Games, second annual Tri-State Youth Choir Car Show, an apple butter stir-off, various food and craft vendors and a 3 on 3 basketball tournament. Gary's Sound Machine will be providing music at the park throughout the day.
A $3 donation to the Tri-State Youth Choir will get you into the park Saturday and allows you to attend all the events taking place.
For those unfamiliar with the Highland Games, they are a celebration of the region's Scotch and Irish heritage centered around the heavy athletics competition.
Saturday there will be a Super A professional competition, an open amateur competition and a women's demonstration encompassing all seven events.
The competition gets started at 9 a.m. with the stone of strength- similar to a shot put. Other events include the 28-pound weight toss, the hammer throw, and the sheaf toss- using a pitchfork contestants throw a 20-pound sack over a raised bar.
The final events are two of the most popular. The Caber Toss not only requires strength, but balance and timing. The caber is a tapered log about 19 feet long and weighing 100 to 130 pounds. The athlete hoists the caber and folds his hands under the end while cradling it against his shoulder. Gaining the balance of the upright caber, he will run briefly with it to gather momentum for the toss. Field judges run behind him and watch as he heaves the caber up and over to ground its heavy end and let it fall forward. If the caber is turned, the judges score the toss on the caber's position relative to the face of a giant clock. A perfect score is 12 o'clock, an exact 180-degree toss. The competition wraps up with the 56-pound weight throw for distance with athletes throwing a weight attached to the end of a chain.
Several Scottish vendors will be on hand and Celtic items will be on sale. There will also be many food and other vendors throughout the park as part of Fun Day.
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