Liddell takes Clasp, HP&J; Drummond, Leask win Inverness B-Grade events

Inverness, Scotland – September 6, 2013 – Stuart Liddell completed   rare perfect sweep of all events he competed in at the Northern Meeting, by taking his third Clasp for piobaireachd, the Premier/A-Grade Hornpipe & Jig, in addition to the Silver Star MSR he won the previous day, at the 2013 Northern Meeting at Eden Court Theatre on the banks of the River Ness. Earlier Graham Drummond and Steven Leask won the B-Grade MSR and Hornpipe & Jig, respectively. This year the B-Grade March and Strathspey & Reel were consolidated into a single MSR – as occurred in 2001 with the A-Grade events – and the addition of a B-Grade Hornpipe & Jig.

Callum Beaumont finished second in the Clasp, narrowly missing winning both it and the Highland Society of London Gold Medal in the same year – a feat accomplished only in 1954 by Donald MacPherson. For a period after World War II those who had not won a Gold Medal were permitted to compete in the Clasp. Until about 20 years ago, qualification to compete in the Clasp was opened to the who had won the Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering. The original requirement was that constants had to have won the Northern Meeting Gold Medal.

Clasp
1st Stuart Liddell, Inveraray, Scotland, “Lachlan MacNeill Campbell of Kintarbert’s Fancy”
2nd Callum Beaumont, Bo’ness, Scotland, “Lachlan MacNeill Campbell of Kintarbert’s Fancy”
3rd Jack Lee, Surrey, British Columbia, “Ronald MacDonald of Morar’s Lament”
4th Willie McCallum, Bearsden, Scotland, “The Old Men of the Shells”
5th Glenn Brown, Glasgow, “In Praise of Morag”

Judges: John Wilson, Bill Wotherspoon, Andrew Wright

Premier/A-Grade Hornpipe & Jig
1st Stuart Liddell
2nd Andrew Hayes, Ottawa
3rd Gordon McCready, Renfrew, Scotland
4th Naill Stewart, Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland
5th Craig Muirhead, Glasgow

Judges: Ian McLellan, Willie Morrison, Bob Worrall

B-Grade

MSR
1st Graham Drummond
2nd David Wilton, Glasgow
3rd Gordon Bruce, Glasgow
4th Sarah Muir, Inveraray, Scotland
5th Darach Urquhart, Glasgow

Judges: Malcolm McRae, Iain Morrison

Hornpipe & Jig
1st Steven Leask, Glasgow
2nd Darach Urquhart
3rd Liam Kernaghan, New Zealand
4th David Wilton
5th Angus J. MacColl, Benderloch, Scotland

Judges: James Banks, Walter Cowan, Barry Donaldson