Feats of strength: Heavy Games return to Portarlington at National Celtic Folk Festival

SOME of Victoria’s strongest athletes will head to Portarlington next month, turning the National Celtic Folk Festival into a showcase of brute strength, balance and centuries-old Scottish tradition.

The festival will again host the Vic Highland Heavy Events competition, including the 2026 National Caber Championships, where competitors will attempt to lift and throw a large, tapered pole known as a caber as far as possible.

 

The traditional Scottish event will feature alongside other feats of strength including the hammer throw, stone put and weight over bar.

“Highland heavy events originated in the Scottish Highlands and are believed to date back more than 1,000 years,” Vic Highland Heavy Events secretary Colin Newman said.

“Tradition says early Scottish kings held strength competitions to identify the strongest warriors and messengers, with events such as stone throwing, hammer throwing and caber tossing testing power, balance and athletic skill.”

 

While the events may appear straightforward, the strength required to not only lift the implements but then propel them forward is immense.

Newman said the atmosphere at Portarlington is always special.

“We do a show and tell where we walk around with some of the implements and get people to hold them – not throw them – just to understand how heavy these things are,” Newman said.

 

Fourteen athletes will compete in the championships, with the eldest competitor, Marty Glea, an impressive 70 years old.

Geelong’s Matthew Batt and Corio’s Nigel Skurrie will be in action, with Skurrie preparing for the Australian Open Men’s Championship in October.

Meanwhile, competition stalwart Fran Fitzpatrick-Sandford – who remains undefeated since women started competing in Australia – will be looking to break some world records.

 

Newman said Highland heavy events attracted competitors from a wide range of sporting backgrounds.

“A lot of our athletes come from a track and field background,” he said. “There’s a lot of throwers from athletics that compete with us and strongmen often come and compete too.

“We also have someone who got involved with us through Highland dancing. He and his family have been dancers for a while and he’d always come over and watch, then after a while he asked if he could give it a go.

 

“He’s not missed an event for a while now.”

The Heavy Games are just one feature of a packed program for the 2026 National Celtic Folk Festival.

Festival director Una McAlinden said this year’s event featured one of its strongest and most diverse lineups yet.

 

“We’ve got such a full program,” she said. “We’re pumped about it because it is one of the best programs we have ever had. It’s really diverse and I think that’s the attraction.”

The festival will feature music, food, theatre, arts and sport from Friday evening through to Monday afternoon across the June long weekend.

 

Artists from Scotland and Ireland will perform alongside First Nations and Australian artists.

McAlinden said the festival’s sense of community continued to grow each year thanks to its passionate crowds and volunteers.

The National Celtic Folk Festival runs from 5-8 June.