$7,800 prize purse once again up for grabs at 2023 Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) competitions

It might well be bigger than total prize purse than the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championship, as a collective $7,800 will once again be offered to the prizewinners at the 2023 Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) competitions, part of the Glengarry Highland Games at Maxville, Ontario, on Friday, August 4th.

We say the amount “might well be bigger” because the monetary prizes for the top grade at the World’s, to our knowledge, have never actually been publicized, but never mind.

The Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) competitions have been held since 1979, beginning in Ottawa, then moving to Cambridge, Ontario, in the 1980s, and ultimately integrating with the Glengarry Highland Games in the 1990s. The event continues to be independent, not sanctioned by any piping an drumming association but overseen by Scotland’s Piobaireachd Society.

The contests start at 8 am with the Gold Medal at St. Michael & All Angels Anglican Church in Maxville. After that event, the Bar to the Medal competition for previous winners of the Medal will start, going probably until about 6 pm when judges Bill Livingstone and Jim McGillivray render their decisions.

Gold Medal (sponsored by GFL Canada)
1st place: Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) and $700
2nd place: $500
3rd place: $300
4th place: $200
5th place: $100

Bar to the Medal (sponsored by the Clan Donald Trust for the Gaelic Performing Arts)
1st place: Bar to the Medal, the Sir John A. Macdonald Memorial Targe and $3,000
2nd place: $2,000
3rd place: $1,000

The tunes and guidelines are taken from the Piobaireachd Society’s set tunes recommended for Highland Society of London Gold Medal and Clasp and Senior Piobaireachd competitions at the Northern Meeting and Argyllshire Gathering.

The competitors and the tunes chosen for them to play:

Gold Medal (alphabetical, not the order of play)

• Tyler Bridge, Guelph, Ontario,”Sobieski’s Salute”
• Daniel Carr, Collingwood, Ontario, “The Lament for the Only Son”
• Seumas Coyne, Los Angeles,”MacKintosh of Borlum’s Salute”
• Brendan Culver, Kentville, Nova Scotia, “The Black Wedder’s White Tail”
• Kevin Darmadi, Washington, DC, “Queen Anne’s Lament”
• Ross Davison, Ottawa, “Lament for the Only Son”
• Andrew Donlon, Washington, DC, “Queen Anne’s Lament”
• Kevin Dugas, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, “The Menzies’ Salute”
• Jeremy Freeman, Poughkeepsie, New York, “Sobieski’s Salute”
• Tyler Harris, Hamilton, Ontario, “Sobieski’s Salute”
• Tyler Johnson, Farmington Hills, Michigan, “The Black Wedder’s White Tail”
• Dan Lyden, Timonium, Maryland, “The Rout of the Lowland Captain”
• Ben McClamrock, Washington, DC, “MacIntosh of Borlum’s Salute”
• Liam Melville, “The MacDonalds’ Salute”
• Alastair Murray, Moon Township, Pennsylvania, “Lament for the Dead”
• Mary Wallace, Richmond, Virginia, “Lament for the Dead”

Bar to the Medal (alphabetical, not the order of play)

• James Bell, Batesville, Arkansas, “Scarce of Fishing”
• Andrea Boyd, Ottawa, “The Daughter’s Lament”
• Jacob Dicker, Ottawa, “Lament for the Earl of Antrim”
• Alex Gandy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, “The Rout of the Lowland Captain”
• Bruce Gandy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, “Lament for the Union”
• Andrew Hayes, Ottawa, “Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon”
• Nick Hudson, Houston, “Lament for MacLeod of Colbeck”
• Ian K. MacDonald, Whitby, Ontario, “Lament for the Laird of Anapool”
• Scott McIntosh, Ontario, “In Praise of Morag”
• Derek Midgley, Tinton Falls, New Jersey, “Port Urlar”
• Andrew Rogers, Fredericton, New Brunswick, “John Garve MacLeod of Raasay’s Lament”

Bobby Durning of Carollton, Texas, won the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) and Andrew Hayes was the winner of the Bar to the Medal in 2022.

The large prize funding was first offered in 2019, but the events were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

Stay tuned to pipes|drums for results from these events as they become available next week.