Alaska Highland Games hits records and draw record crowds at state fairgrounds

The Alaska Highland Games concluded on June 30 with every women’s field event record broken, as well as a world record set in the open stone event by Adriane Wilson.

Jessica Bridenthal lead the women in victory overall, while Jared Conlan took the trophy home for the men’s elite class. Those who took first place won $650 each.

These were not the only victories of the day, according to Jeni McDaniel, the athletic director and event coordinator of the games

“We had record breaking crowds, we had venders that sold out of food, we sold out of our scotch tasting, we sold out of our raffle tickets. It was one of the best years we’ve ever had,” McDaniel said.

Crowd numbers hit at least 5,000, if not more, according to McDaniel. Long lines of people stretched from every food stand, and the bleachers at the throwing events were completely full throughout the day. Some of the popular events, such as the scotch tasting, sold out at 250 people within nine minutes of opening.

Although the Highland Games has chosen to bring in elite athletes from outside the state, many locals compete as well. Patrick Clark from Wasilla has been competing since 2015 when he watched the games in Eagle River.

“It’s one of the sports where if you out-throw a guy they say, ‘good job,’” he said. “The competition is a different kind of thing.”

For locals, training for a competition like this is personal. Clark trains at the gym doing normal squats, deadlifts, cleans, snatches and a lot of throwing.

“You’re kind of in charge of your own training. If I want to go cut down a tree and shave it down and dry it for a year, I could probably do that.”

Another popular attraction was genealogist and author of 11 books, Laurence Overmire, who taught a two-hour workshop in the morning and then spent the rest of the day answering questions and guiding people on their quest to understand their heritage.

Many people coming to the games are drawn there because of their ancestry. Overmire, an expert in geneology, did his best to point them to websites that could help them piece together the past.

“Most of them have a clan that they’re trying to find and locate, some of them know parts of their tree, but they’re stuck in how do they get beyond that,” he said.

McDaniel hopes that the success of this year’s show will bring in the sponsorships needed for the next games, which she is already thinking about how to make better.

“We’d love to be able to be able to bring up both a professional men and a professional women’s class and have them throw together,” she said.