About Tossing The Caber
Taken from the 40th annual commemorative program.

This is a truly Scottish sport practiced from the very early Highland Games and writers have referred to it from as far back as the 16th Century.
Many theories have been expounded as to the origin of the sport. According to David Webster in his book “Scottish Highland Games”the most probable is that it was devised by Scottish woodsmen in their leisure time. An old saying tells us that “The desire for strength is greatest where manliness is strongest”, so it is more than likely that contests involving strength and skill were popular with these brawny lads. With logs readily available, caber tossing would be easy to arrange and would appeal to their taste in sport.

Contrary to general opinion, the competitors do not endeavor to throw the caber as far as they can but to toss it as straight as possible. The caber is grasped by its thinner end and, when thrown, lands on the heavier end and continues to describe a semi-circle. To judge the best throw one must imagine a clock face with the caber as a single hand of the clock. A perfect throw would see the caber pointing at 12 o’clock. A throw where the caber points at 2 o’clock would not be as good as one at 1 o’clock; 11 o’clock would be better than 10 o’clock and so on.

Sometimes a caber proves particularly reluctant to turn, so a piece is sawn off the end and the competitors make another attempt. If necessary the log is made shorter until finally the caber is tossed.

The better known games in Scotland have a traditional caber which is never cut under any circumstances. These cabers are often produced as an extra challenge outside the normal Caber-Tossing Competition. Today at Delaware Park we have emulated this Scottish tradition and are presenting the 19 feet, 120 lb. “Delaware Caber” as a challenge to the winner of the Caber-Tossing Competition.

Reprinted from: Delaware Highland Gathering program, August 3rd, 1963