His best single event was the 56-pound weight-for-distance event, where he placed first. He ended up fifth overall in his division. His first toss had the height, but didn't go over the bar. He was coming off a back injury and, in an effort to minimize stress, passed on some lower heights in the 56-pound weight-for-height event.
Richards didn't have a good day Saturday. He won his division in his second games and remembers winning at the last games in Ocala. He liked it, practiced a bit and went to his first games in Tampa Bay in 2000, and won his division. "My friend Tyson Trias, we actually played softball together, he thought that I might like it," Richards said. The 31-year-old landscaper was introduced to the games by a friend. There were actually a lot of people who went there." "I don't think I'll make it to Scotland this year," Denardis said, "but maybe next year."ĭenardis would like to compete in Ocala, and referring to the now-defunct Ocala Games, said, "You could have one again. "I'm going to try and do all the Florida games this year."ĭenardis' goal in the games is to move up in the rankings enough to compete with his friend Jason Richards, who has competed as a member of national and southeastern regional teams. "I won my division in Tampa Bay in December," he said. This is Denardis' second season competing in the games. His first place finishes were in caber (which is roughly 20 feet long, weighs 100 pounds and looks like a telephone pole), sheaf (bag of hay or mulch, tossed for height with a pitchfork) and stone throw (think shotput, but with a rock). GREG DENARDISThe 35-year old real estate appraiser came in first in the Class B division, with three first-place, three second-place and one third-place finishes in individual events. Ocalan Robert Gourlay served as an athletics judge on Saturday, then competed in the over-45 division on Sunday.
The locals in Saturday's competition were Greg Denardis, of Ocala, and Jason Richards, of Belleview. There was plenty of activity throughout the games' Central Winds Park venue, including bagpipe playing, Celtic concerts, highland dances, medieval re-enactments and dogs herding livestock. Three of them competed this past weekend in Winter Springs at the 31st annual Central Florida Scottish Highland Games, tossing hay, throwing stones and hammers and weights, and doing the ever-popular telephone pole toss. WINTER SPRINGS -Marion County no longer has its own Scottish Highland Games, but it still has a contingent of Scottish athletes.
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