A mother and daughter will grace the competition field at the upcoming 68th Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games.
Jackie Denny (formerly Jackie Greig) and her 13-year-old daughter Rowan Greig are looking forward to competing on hometown turf, Denny in the Women’s Heavy Events and Greig in the youth class.
It is Greig’s first year of competition, while her mother has been competing on the professional side for more than 20 years and was the first Canadian woman ever to compete in Women’s Heavy Events in Canada.
Greig’s entry is the first in her class with mother and daughter both marking first place honours in Highland game history.
Each will be cheering for the other with Denny especially proud to see her daughter learning the techniques involved in handling the caber toss, hammer throw and other events attached to the games and women’s competition.
Denny said competing with her daughter carries on a tradition in her family that got her involved. Her brothers Adam and Mike have competed and also her father Bryan. She points out it’s rare to find a sport where mother and daughter can compete together.
“It’s just fun,” Denny said. “It’s a sport we can do together. There’s not many Sports you can compete together in. You couldn’t do it with soccer.”
Greig started training last year and so far this year has competed in competitions at games in Guelph, Cambridge and Kincardine.
Greig, in a way, is breaking new ground in a class where there are no other competitors.
“She’s the only youth girl in the world currently throwing,” her mother points out. “So she’s setting records.”
Denny said there are two other girls within the family of women competitors that she believes will take up competition when they turn 13, the age of eligibility for the class which runs from 13 to 16 years of age.
“I’m sure this is going to open up (the class) fast,” Denny adds. “Next year there’s a couple of girls coming out and they’re already training.”
So far, Denny has seen improvement in her daughter’s performances with each venue the 13-year-old has competed in.
“She’s learned a lot,” Denny said. “Before she watched (Highland competitons) and I think she knows.”
For competitors, the sport is probably about 20 per cent strength and 80 per cent technique, Denny said.
“I look at technique,” the mother said of training she does with Greig. “The strength is important, but technique is what you need.”
Safety is another factor in a sport that takes its toll on competitors and is fraught with injuries.
“She knows where to stand so she doesn’t get hit by the hammer,” Denny said of the hammer toss event. “It’s extremely dangerous.”
Denny is also pleased with the way her daughter is mastering the caber toss.
“She’s responsible for picking up the caber, running with it and flipping it,” Denny said.
But Greig is comfortable in a sport she has been around all her life.
“I’ve been around it since I was young and always loved it,” she said of the games she has attended since she was four-months-old.
“I would be at the kids place, ice cream and heavy events,” she said of the experiences she has taken in at games around the province, including Fergus.
Denny herself is working on getting her game together after having trimmed down over the winter. The weight loss has meant fine-tuning her own technique.
“I’m learning from the beginning,” she said. “When I found out the weight affected me I knew I had to start regular training.”
She started that process with the games in Georgetown to open the season.
“I love Georgetown because it’s the one that opens the season and the rust falls off,” Denny said, referring to the process needed to hone technique and skill.
The pair competed in the Kincardine games, a venue Denny describes as a family-oriented competition where fathers and sons and mothers and daughters compete.
“We all know each other,” Denny said of the camaraderie that has developed between competitors and their families in the Highland games circuit over the years.
Competitors are also watching Greig as she competes and trains, often offering advice to help her improve her skills.
The friendships also mean families take care of each other.
“If you get in trouble they’ll help you out,” Denny said.
Greig said during the Kincardine competition her grandfather Bryan was an announcer and took the opportunity to stir up the crowd to cheer for his grand-daughter.
“She saw me stiffen,” Greig said of her mother watching her. “She said just relax.”
Greig did well in the competition.
Getting on to the competition circuit has also seen Greig get invited to compete at other competitions, something she obviously is not accustomed to early in her career.
At one competition an organizer from the Bracebridge games extended an invitation for Greig to compete there.
“I didn’t know what to say because I’ve never been invited before,” Greig said. “I was excited.”
She accepted the invitation and will compete in Bracebridge later in the season.
Greig has also been invited to compete at the Fergus games and will have to cope with the attention she will receive there from the hometown crowd.
“All my friends, all my teachers from previous years will be there and that makes me even more nervous,” she said. “It’s a little nerve wracking.”
But she vows to keep her eye on the game.
Denny, who sits as a director on the Fergus Scottish Festival and Highland Games board, is looking forward to competing at a venue she admits she has always had difficulty placing well at. She’s also looking at her own career where she hopes to one day graduate out of competition and become a judge. With her daughter slowly moving into the competitive ranks, that move might be easier.
But there is something the mother knows will eventually happen.
“I can’t wait for the day she beats me in competition,” Denny said.
Greig maintains that could still be a few years away.
The games will be held at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex from Aug. 9 to Aug. 11.
Denny is hoping the weather cooperates and fans will turn out in the thousands to watch the tradition continue.
