Feat of strength does 12th century proud

NEW GLASGOW - People seated around the edges of the field chant his name softly and clap as he bends at the waist, his hands carefully gripping the metal stick.
Then, with a grunt, he lifts it, holding his arms straight out as he twirls it around his head five times, before releasing it and watching it arc through the air and land with a thud.
"That's it!" someone calls from the sidelines.
Lyle Barron has just set a record at Tartan Field as the 16-pound hammer travelled 136 feet - that's nearly 41.5 metres - across the field. It's a little shy of his personal best, 139 feet (42.3 m) and just shy of the Canadian record of 140 feet and three inches (42.7 m).
"It was just under the Canadian record, I was hoping I'd beat it today, but I fell a little short," said Barron. "My hand is kind of injured."
He unofficially broke that record on Canada Day in Pugwash, but the hammer weighed in an ounce under standard size, making the Guysborough County man's results null and void.
Still, he's among the top heavyweight competitors in Canada right now, who showed his stuff on Saturday at the Festival of the Tartans in New Glasgow. Barron's distance allowed him to easily take first place in the light hammer portion of the competition.
"My hammer distance is back where I like to have them," he said after the competition. "I slumped a little mid-season."
The hammer, along with the caber toss, are his favourite events.
His results are impressive, especially considering Saturday marked his fifth anniversary from trying his skills at the Highland Games. The 34-year-old EMT is a three-time Maritime Champion.
"I always weight lifted, but I was looking for a purpose," he said. "I'm close to Antigonish and I've always known about the Highland Games, so I thought it would be a good fit for me."
Barron also threw a heavy hammer field best on Saturday.
The eight competitors registered in Saturday's Highland Games participated in eight events over the course of the day, including the weight toss for height, weight throw for distance, the braemar stone and the clachneart stone.
"These are all implements you'd find in an old blacksmith shop," said Jim Sears, who has announced the results of the heavyweight competitions at the Festival of the Tartans for the past 53 years. "The Scots have been doing this since the 12th century."
It's not just in Scotland anymore, however.
"It's probably one of the most popular games around the world," Sears said, adding that the only requirement is that participants must wear kilts. "It's done in every country in the world now, even Africa."