2024 Sun Belt Championship goes to Callum Beaumont

Maitland, Florida – November 8-9, 2024 – Callum Beaumont of St. Andrews, Scotland, won the third annual Sun Belt Invitational Solo Piping Competition (An Crios Gréine) held at the Orlando Sheraton North Hotel. It was Beaumont’s second time winning the aggregate prize after winning the 2022 event, the first year the competition was held.

The professional-level competition had a prize pool of more than US$6,000.

Malachi Johannsen of Modesto, California, was the aggregate winner of the Pipe-Major Sandy Jones Amateur Championship against nine other contestants invited after winning designated solo piping events in North America over the year.

For the first time, the weekend included practice chanter events for pipers aged 14 and younger. Alex Tully of Dublin won both the Piobaireachd Urlar and March contests and received a set of Kintail pipes from the 1980s donated by the well-known piper and judge John Recknagel.

On Friday evening, Dublin’s Alen Tully won the Bar Room Brawl, open to all pipers, each performing a freestyle medley judged by the audience in the An Tobar Pub of the hotel venue. For his success, Tully received US$1,000 and gets to wear the Bar Room Brawl Belt through the streets of Dublin and anywhere else in the free world he chooses.

The Sun Belt Golf Tournament was also held on the Friday, and the inaugural Captain’s Trophy, named in honour of the late Ken Eller, was won by the team featuring

The weekend of competitions is organized by Erc Stein, who also puts together the Ardmore Cup in Ireland, modelled after the Sun Belt.

Sun Belt Invitational
Piobaireachd
1st Callum Beaumont, “Lament for McLeod of Colbeck”
2nd Angus D. MacColl, Benderloch, Scotland, “Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon”
3rd Willie McCallum, Bearsden, Scotland, “Lachlan MacNeil Campbell of Kintarbert’s Fancy”
4th Bruce Gandy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, “The MacDougalls’ Gathering”
5th Glenn Brown, Glasgow, “The Edinburgh Piobaireachd”
Judges: Ian Duncan, Jim Stack, Bob Worrall

Medley
1st Connor Sinclair, Crieff, Scotland
2nd Callum Beaumont
3rd Angus D. MacColl
4th Alex Gandy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
5th Willie McCallum
Judges: Ian Duncan, Jim Stack, Bob Worrall

Also competing: Ben McClamrock, Washington, DC; Derek Midgley, Tinton Falls, New Jersey; and Alen Tully.

Pipe-Major Sandy Jones Amateur Championship
Piobaireachd
1st Malachi Johannssen, “The Phantom Piper of Corrieyairack”
2nd Kathrine Miller, Florida
3rd Karl Fetter, Jamestown, North Carolina
4th Adam Waghorn, New Zealand
5th Ian Minnear, Houston
6th Mic Trenor, Columbus, Ohio
7th Joey Votta, Absecon, New Jersey
Judge: Angus D. MacColl

MSR
1st Joey Votta
2nd Ian Minnear
3rd Malachi Johannsen
4th Adam Weghorn
5th Magnus Stone, Natick, Massachusetts
6th Liam Horne, Wise, Virginia
7th Mic Trenor
Judge: Connor Sinclair

Also competing was Thomas McCollum, Michigan.

14 and Younger Practice Chanter
Pipe-Major Donald MacLeod Memorial Piobaireachd ground
1st Alex Tully, Dublin, “Cabar Feidh Gu Brath”
2nd Kathryn Klega-Nelsen, “Cronan Corrievrechan”
Judge: Willie McCallum

Wiliam McCallum Sr. Memorial March
1st Alex Tully
2nd Kathryn Klega-Nelson
3rd Nathan Woolly
Judge: Willie McCallum