Sheaf Toss, Blacksmith and Medieval Style Combat Ohio Scottish Games and Celtic Festival Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds June 24, 2023
The Ohio Scottish Games and Celtic Festival had a variety of unique, interesting and fun activities. One popular event was the Heavy Athletic Competitions. That included the Braemar Stone, Open Stone, Heavy Weight for Distance, Light Weight For Height, Heavy Hammer, Light Hammer, Caber Toss, Sheaf Toss and Weight Over Bar.
This is a quick look at a Sheaf Toss. The sheaf is a burlap bag of tightly woven twine that is tossed with a 3 tine pitch fork up over a bar. The sheaf differs per class including: 20 lb for Professional men; 16 pound for Open men and Masters; and 10 lb for women. Similar to the weight over bar, each athlete gets 3 attempts at each height until they have missed all attempts. Competitors must toss the sheaf over the bar in order to remain in the competition. The bar is raised 3 feet at a time after each athlete has either cleared the height or missed all three attempts. Once there are only 2 athletes remaining, they can pick and choose the next height. They may be trying to clear a Personal, Field or World Record with their final attempts. Some athletes can toss the sheaf over a 30 foot (or higher) bar.
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Members of the Barony of the Cleftlands demonstrated medieval-style combat using rattan swords, daggers and even cloaks to distract the opponent.
The Barony of the Cleftlands group also had other Medieval displays and activities.
We spoke to Vincent Krava (aka Saytr McNaughton) the founder of Dragon's Head Forge at the Ohio Scottish Games and Celtic Festival at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds on June 24, 2023. He began his journey into Blacksmithing as a Farrier over twenty years ago. The first thing he learned when starting his apprenticeship was how to make horseshoes. Over time and countless shoes later he began experimenting with some other designs, mostly as gifts for friends and family. In 2009 Dragon's Head Forge was born. He spoke about the coals thy use, the anvils and more.
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