Former Stockbridge resident wins her division at Masters World Championship Highland Games

Edie Price Lindeburg, center, on the winners stand at the Masters World Championship Highland Game in Stuttgart, Germany.         

By Judy Williams

Edie (Price) Lindeburg, a 1984 graduate of Stockbridge High School, won first place in her division at the 2018 Masters World Championship Highland Games, held Sept. 8 and 9 in Stuttgart Germany. The world championship, which travels to a different venue each year, marked Lindeburg’s fourth competition at this level. All told, she and husband Nathan, members of the Rocky Mountain Scottish Athletes, have competed in the Highland Games for seven years.

“I got interested in the Scottish games after I retired from triathlons,” Lindeburg said. “I had been competing in the tris for 12 years and just got mentally and physically burned out.”

Lindeburg, daughter of Stockbridge resident Audrey Price and deceased Robert Price, works at St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver as a nurse practitioner. She and her husband currently reside in Parker, Colorado.

When questioned about the events, Lindeburg explained, “North America recognizes nine events, while Europe typically only recognizes the eight traditional events. The athlete must compete in all of these in order to place. Competitions usually take place in one day, but the World’s always take place over two, sometimes three days.”

The events, a test of strength and athleticism, “may have originated as a surrogate for military games,” Lindeburg said, “and as a way for clans to test their warriors’ prowess.”

Caber and sheaf toss, she said, likely evolved from daily chores. The caber competition, derived from placing logs across rivers in order to ford rivers. Sheaf, a simulated bale of hay tossed via pitchfork for height, originated in farmlands when hay was put up.

Lindeburg said cabers, or telephone poles, are her “hands-down favorite,” and the competition in which she generally enjoys the greatest success.

She plans to defend her title next November during the 2019 Master Worlds in Tucson, Arizona, and she looks forward to the 2020 world championships to be held in Dublin, Ireland.

Lindeburg described the highland events as follows:

Braemar, or heavy stone. Ordinary fieldstone of approximately 13 pounds for women and 20-plus pounds for men. Thrown for distance from a stationary position. “Think shotput,” she said.

Open, or light stone. Fieldstone, 9 and 16 pounds for women and men, respectively. Also thrown for distance, and the athlete may utilize a spin, glide, or hop approach.

Light weight for distance. As it sounds: 14 pounds for women, 28 pounds for men. Looks like a shotput on a chain with a handle. Athlete throws with one hand, utilizing a spin for momentum.

Heavy weight for distance. 28 pounds for open women (the youngsters), 21 pounds for masters women (40 and over), 56 pounds for open men, 42 pounds for masters men, and lightweights.

Weight over bar. Looks like a kettlebell and is thrown overhead for height.

Heavy hammer. Looks like a small cannon shot on a flexible PVC or rattan handle. Thrown for distance from a stationary stance, back to the field, 16 pounds for women, 22 pounds for men.

Light hammer. 12 pounds for women, 16 pounds for men.

Sheaf. Note pronunciation. It’s not “sheep throw.” 12 pounds for open women, 10 pounds for masters women; 20 pounds for open men, 16 pounds for masters men.

Caber. Wooden poles of varying lengths and weights. Balanced in the hands by one end, thrown in the air with the goal of turning end over end and landing in a 12-o’clock position, straight away from the athlete. Anything other than 12 is scored as if on the face of a clock.

Former Stockbridge resident Edie Price Lindeberg, second from right, lifts a caber with the help of competitors and friends. In just four years, Lindeberg has climbed to the top ranks of her age bracket in the Scottish games, which includes the caber toss.

Lindeburg competing in the “weight for height.” A competitor has 3 opportunities to make a height in order to move the bar to the next height.