Throwing a tree trunk

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Log throwing at the 2000 New Hampshire Highland Games

Tree trunk throwing ( tossing the caber , caber toss for short ) is a traditional Scottish sport. It has been in operation in Scotland for centuries and is now an integral part of the annual Highland Games ; but it is also a discipline of the Gotland Olympics .

The thrower initially holds the tree trunk vertically in front of his body with both hands. Then he takes a run-up, whereby the trunk must not tip over, and hurls the trunk so that it first rotates 180 ° in the air. So it hits the ground first with the originally upper end. Due to the torque , it then tilts further, so that in the end the end that the thrower had in his hands points away from him.

The aim of the caber toss is not to throw the trunk as far as possible, but in as straight a line as possible. If the trunk remains at an angle, the thrower will be penalized with a point deduction, which will be higher, the greater the angle deviation. If the trunk tips back in the direction of the thrower after hitting it, the point deduction is even higher.

The logs used are usually 5-6 meters long and weigh between 35 and 60 kg. The weight and size of the logs require considerable strength and skill from the participants.

Mountain gymnastics festivals

Traditional tree trunk throwing at the Jahn-Bergturnfest 2006 on the Bückeberg in Lower Saxony

Throwing a tree trunk also found its way into German-speaking countries when it included the gymnastics movement in its exercises, which initially served the physical fitness and performance against the background of the defense concept. Tree trunk throwing is one of the traditional competitive disciplines that are carried out at mountain gymnastics festivals . The rules, the throwing technique and the dimensions of the logs used, however, differ from the Scottish tradition.

The tree trunk, which is smaller than in Scotland, is held vertically in front of the body with both hands from a standing position with feet parallel to each other and thrown up and far from this position. As with the Scottish rules, the tree trunk must first hit the ground with the end facing up when it is thrown and tip over at a right angle so that the lower end held in the hands when it is thrown lies forward in the direction of the throw. From different throws by an athlete, the furthest one is counted in the evaluation, provided that it has complied with the rules, and is rewarded with 0-25 points. Trespassing the drop mark and deviating from the throwing technique or the type of tipping over will make the throw invalid. Tree trunks of different sizes and weights are used for women and men.

Web links

Commons : Tree Trunk Throwing  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ernst-Stahlhut throwing fight at: jahn-bergturnfest.de (PDF file; 547 kB)