General News
3 January, 2023
Maryborough rings in the new year
After a two-year hiatus, Maryborough’s Highland Gathering came roaring back to life on Sunday, marking the new year with thousands of people turning out for the event’s long-awaited return. Marking its milestone 160th event this year, the...
After a two-year hiatus, Maryborough’s Highland Gathering came roaring back to life on Sunday, marking the new year with thousands of people turning out for the event’s long-awaited return.
Marking its milestone 160th event this year, the Gathering is believed to be the oldest continuous running sporting event of its type in Australia and once again lived up to its reputation on the weekend.
Last held in 2020 before the 2021 and 2022 events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not even 36 degree temperatures could scare crowds off for the event’s return, with hundreds turning out to enjoy the High Street parade and thousands making their way to Princes Park for athletics events, woodchopping, highland dancing and band performances throughout the day.
Maryborough Highland Society sports secretary Nick Weaver described the day as a success, expressing just how good it was to have the event back up and running.
“We’re really ecstatic with how the day went and speaking with the Victorian Athletic League they were really happy with how things went as well,” he said.
“Looking at the crowds we had throughout the day and then again at night for the fireworks was fantastic, it was brilliant to see the support for the event’s return.”
Despite a sweltering 36.3° throughout New Year’s Day, more than 3000 people attended the Highland Gathering to watch the year kick off in the traditional Scottish style, with over 400 athletes also taking to the track.
Mr Weaver said despite the heat, the atmosphere of the day was palpable.
“The atmosphere was fantastic on the day, everyone was getting right into the events — especially with the strongmen and women lifting the heavy stones, that always gets the crowd in the grandstand involved,” he said.
“There were people everywhere to see the fireworks, it was absolutely packed and they were probably the best fireworks we’ve had in years.
“New Year’s Day showed just how important the Highland Gathering is to the community, it’s something we do every year and it’s a part of the history here, but it’s also part of celebrating the new year.”
Building on the event’s success, Mr Weaver said future Gatherings will be fine tuned so the day runs more smoothly.
“We’re looking to make a few changes and fine tune things moving forward, one change will be looking at getting some more marquees at future events so people can enjoy it from the shade,” he said.
“We’re also looking to move away from natural stones for the strongmen and women event and move to more rounded stones, which gives everyone a more equal chance of lifting what they’re used to.
“We’ll have a proper meeting in two or three weeks and identify other areas of change, we always want to update the event so it’s not the same thing every year but at the same time, the Highland Gathering is unique and we don’t want to take away from that.
“Something I’d love to see happen at future events is utilising Lake Victoria, if we were able to get paddle boats on there for families that would be absolutely fantastic.
“We’ll also look at running the men and women’s gifts right after each other rather than having a couple of hours between them.”
The 2024 Highland Gathering will be the first in the event’s 160-year history to feature parity between the available prize money for the men’s and women’s gifts, with both to feature $15,000 prize pools.
Mr Weaver said the journey to reaching parity between the two events has been supported by sponsors.
“We wouldn’t be able to run an event like this without the support of our sponsors, they’ve been fantastic,” he said.
“We had some new sponsors come on board this year which I think is a real vote of confidence in the future of the event. Reaching parity in the gifts next year will be a big thing as well, it’s been part of the committee’s vision for a long time and to make that possible is great, it makes the Gathering a really attractive and more inclusive event for athletes.”
