The world championship of Scottish athletics is coming to Chesterfield this fall. The sporting event, Masters World Championship (MWC), is coordinating this year with the annual St. Louis Scottish Games and Cultural Festival.
The success of the local event, held in Forest Park since 2001, has helped in drawing the global competition to the area, said St. Louis’s Scottish Games spokesman Mark Sutherland.
"We have some high quality athletes … in the St. Louis region that are competing every year, but this is definitely stepping up the competition a level so there's going to be some fun comradery and some fun competition, but you're really going to see some incredible Scottish athletics over the weekend."
The MWC is an annual global competition, open to all athletes who are at least 40 years old. Sutherland said between 150 and 170 athletes will compete this year in a variety of feats of strength including stone throws, weight throws, and the caber toss. Last year, the competition took place in Inverness, Scotland.
Sutherland said this year’s event will take place near the Spirit of St. Louis Airport to provide more space for visitors and activities.
"We've outgrown the space we had at Forest Park and then some other rules that the park put in place regarding animals would've forced us to cancel the highly popular sheepdog trials and some of the other animals we have there. So, the move out to Chesterfield gives us a lot more space. We've more than doubled the field size that we'll be able to use," he said.
Two other major annual festivals have relocated from St. Louis to Chesterfield recently, including the St. Louis Bluesweek Festival and Taste of St. Louis.
The MWC, scheduled for Sept. 25-26, will also feature Highland dancing, Celtic rock, Scottish folk music and more than 120 pipers and drummers.
