(Video) At 63, Glenfiddich Champion Jack Lee works harder to get even better

At age 63, Jack Lee is almost certainly the oldest piper to have competed at the Glenfiddich Championship, let alone win it, as he did for the third time on October 30th at the competition’s home at Blair Castle in Blair Atholl, Scotland.

Perhaps even more astonishing, it was almost 40 years to the day that Lee first appeared at the event, gaining an invitation after he won both the Highland Society of London Gold Medal and the Silver Star Former Winners MSR at the Northern Meeting at Inverness.

And throw in the fact that he played drones, bag and reeds made by his own Lee & Sons Bagpipes, well, it’s simply a jaw-dropping achievement unlikely to be matched again . . . unless, of course, he wins the title for a fourth time.

Never say never, but I think competing into my seventies is unlikely.

In between 1981 and 2021, Jack Lee has gained an invitation to the Glenfiddich “about twenty-something times,” he said in his typically self-deprecating manner. During the period, of course, he has won everything there is, some many times over, and remains the pipe-sergeant of the Grade 1 six-time World Champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band.

What moves this global piping superstar not simply to keep going, but to move ahead and upward, maintaining a standard that obviously competes with and exceeds that of pipers a third his age?

We asked him if he could spare a few minutes to share his quick thoughts and, just back to his Surrey, British Columbia, home after yet another 24 hours of travel, and he kindly obliged.

We hope you enjoy this six-minute conversation with the 2021 Glenfiddich Champion, Jack Lee.

Related

Jack Lee: 2021 Glenfiddich Champion
October 30, 2021

Jack Lee: 2017 Glenfiddich Champion
October 28, 2017

Lee Takes first Glenfiddich title
November 30, 2003

Jack Lee: the pipes|drums Interview – Part 1
November 25, 2013

Jack Lee: the pipes|drums Interview – Part 2
December 8, 2013

Jack Lee: the pipes|drums Interview – Part 3
January 12, 2014

Jack Lee: the pipes|drums Interview – Part 4
February 2, 2014

Jack Lee: the pipes|drums Interview – Part 5
February 23, 2014