Ten Glenfiddich contestants decided for Oct. 30th in-person event at Blair Castle

The 10 pipers to compete in the 2021 Glenfiddich Solo Piing Championships on October 30th at Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland, have been decided and they’re all familiar faces:

• Callum Beaumont, Dollar, Scotland
• Glenn Brown, Glasgow
• Finlay Johnston, Glasgow
• Jack Lee, Surrey, British Columbia
• Stuart Liddell, Inveraray, Scotland
• Angus MacColl, Benderloch, Scotland
• Roddy MacLeod, Glasgow
• Willie McCallum, Bearsden, Scotland
• Connor Sinclair, Crieff, Scotland
• Iain Speirs, Edinburgh

Due to the dearth of competitions that would normally serve as qualifying events, only Liddell and Beaumont, reigning Glenfiddich champion and Masters champion, respectively, gained an automatic invitation.

“The other competitors were chosen based on previous achievements at the Glenfiddich Piping Championship,” organizers said in a statement.

None of the year’s many online competitions around the world counted, and neither did the selection of in-person special events held as part of the Argyllshire Gathering in August.

Jack Lee is the only non-Scottish piper in the event, travelling from Vancouver again this year, but, assuming existing COVID-19 protocols remain in place, he will not have to quarantine for two weeks on both sides of the Atlantic as he had to in 2020.

Callum Beaumont and Connor Sinclair did not feature in the 2020 Glenfiddich prizes, but Bruce Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, did. Gandy, who also quarantined last year for a full month in order to compete at the 2020 Glenfiddich, did not receive an invitation.

Sinclair was the winner of the MSR at the 2019 Glenfiddich, and Glenn Brown, who was not invited to the 2020 Glenfiddich, but was the winner of the Piobaireachd at the 2019 event.

It will be the 48th annual running of the competition, which started in 1974 as the Grant’s Championship, later rebranded as the Glenfiddich to reflect the flagship whisky made by sponsors, William Grant & Son. The competition and many other piping events are now sponsored by the William Grant Foundation.

The competition will be streamed live on the day. A ticket for either the in-person event or the live stream event is £15. Last year’s Glenfiddich was recorded in an empty Great Hall at Blair Castle, and then broadcast on the Internet in a production.

Piobaireachd judges are Stuart Samson, Jack Taylor, and John Wilson. Ian Duncan, Iain MacFadyen, and Willie Morrison will be the judges of March, Strathspey and Reel.

Willie McCallum will be competing for a record ninth Glenfiddich Championship.

Related

Stuart Liddell: 2020 Glenfiddich Champion
October 31, 2020

Finlay Johnston: 2019 Glenfiddich Champion
October 26, 2019