It’s not every day you see big, burly men in skirts hurling what look like telephone poles around a field. But throwing the caber–an 18-to-26-foot log weighing anywhere between 75 and 150 pounds–is what Kevin Carpenter does for fun. He also tosses around 22-pound hammers and 56-pound stones, among other weighty objects, in a sport called Scottish heavy athletics. In fact, the 30-year-old Mount Prospect resident ranks among the top ten amateur competitors in the United States.
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Born and raised in Peoria, Carpenter was introduced to Scottish heavy athletics in 1997 by a fellow football player at North Central College, Brian Fennelly (whose sister, Shannon, became Carpenter’s wife). Fennelly, a national discus champion in college, won the ISAS athletics title three years in a row. Carpenter says, “The first time I went, I got my butt kicked. I got it handed to me.” He was trying to figure out how to wear his rented kilt (a kilt is mandatory for throwers at most games) when he first caught sight of his competition. “I see this guy get out of a car and it’s Brian Neese. Who is Brian Neese? He’s from Indiana and you’ve seen him on ESPN’s World’s Strongest Man. I’m looking at this guy 20 feet away from me and he’s like six-foot-four and 340 pounds. I’m a big guy, but he’s just huge.” Carpenter knew then he was going to get walloped. “I pretty much got stomped into the ground that games, but I had a good time and I had a place to start to improve from.”
Since Carpenter won a title at the Chicago Highland Games in 2000, he’s introduced his younger brother to the sport and attended more and more games. He’s even considering going professional one day, which would mean fewer contests and competing for cash purses (amateurs can win only titles). But for now Carpenter is in it “strictly for the fun of it. I don’t think I’m ever going to make a living doing it.”
That’s not what Carpenter thought he was signing up for. “I thought it would be a lot more laid-back,” he says. “I thought I’d be having beers while I was throwing, and now I probably don’t have beer a couple of days before I throw. I’m serious about it. I enjoy doing it, I enjoy the people–but I have my head screwed on straight when I go out on the field.
He keeps a store of big, heavy stones in his garage and has purchased weights and hammers similar to those used in competition. The only thing he doesn’t get to train with much is the caber. “It’s hard to transport around in my car, and plus there’s no place really to store it,” he says. That’s too bad, since tossing the caber is the most athletic of the events, he says, and requires the most skill. “I almost killed myself the first day trying to throw it. The key thing to know about a caber is, if you’re going to drop it, just run, run away from it.” The technique involves hoisting the vertical caber from the ground to waist height, then straightening the legs and throwing the arms overhead to give the caber momentum and direction. Obviously, more than just strength is involved: balance is crucial, as is a good grip on the end of the caber.
For the first time the Chicago games this year will include professional athletes, who will compete with amateurs in the same division. Carpenter hopes the amateur mentality will prevail. “Everybody’s really encouraging each other. They want to see the big throws. They want to see people hit new personal records. I tell you what, that’s what makes it so enjoyable, and that’s why the popularity is really increasing.”
