Make it a double-double

Anyone who has spent any time in Canada will be familiar with the Tim Hortons chain of coffee shops, and anyone who’s learned about Canadian culture will know that a Tim Hortons coffee with two creams and two sugars is known as a “double-double.”

Anyone who’s serious about piping will know that “The Double” – winning both Highland Society of London Gold Medals at the Argyllshire gathering at Oban and the Northern Meeting at Inverness in the same year – is a rarity. In fact, the Double Gold Medallist feat has been achieved only a handful of times in history, and in 2016 Ian K. MacDonald became only the twelfth person to do it.

But 12 times is relatively a lot, compared with the fact that probably never before in the last two centuries has something else that happened in 2016: the first and second prizes in the Oban and Inverness Gold Medals went to the same people, with Sean McKeown placing second at each.

+ Ian K. MacDonald resting comfortably following minor heart attack

+ Inverness day 1: Ian K. wins historic Double Gold

+ Inverness: Johnston wins Gold; McKeown Silver; Gandy takes MSR

After their apparently unprecedented piping “Double-Double,” we caught up with MacDonald and McKeown at a Toronto Police band practice at the Toronto Police College, Tim Hortons double-doubles in hand, on a cold winter’s day for a brief video chat about their twinned accomplishment.