Another good entry is expected for this Sunday’s Atholl Gathering, the first big solo piping event on the highland games circuit, when 59 seniors and 10 juniors will make their way to Blair Castle in Perthshire.
This year, there will be four heats in the light music, each with one judge who will select three competitors to go through to a final. Each heat will be seeded with an equivalent number of P/A/B/C/non-CPA contestants.
Pipers will play an MSR followed by a Hornpipe and Jig. The events will be judged separately. The tunes submitted in the Hornpipe & Jig are the pipers’ own choices but those that make it through to the final in this event will be required to submit a different Hornpipe & Jig. The MSR requirement is for three tunes of each in the heat and final.
The Piobaireachd is open to P/A/non-CPA, B and C grade pipers with two judges for each event.
The Juniors have Piobaireachd, MSR and Jig contests.
Stewarding will again be undertaken by volunteer pipers from the Army School of Piping.
The draw is:
A/P/Open Piobaireachd:
1 Steven Leask
2 Finlay Clark
3 Callum Beaumont
4 Brian Mulhearn
5 Jonathan Greenlees
6 Darach Urquhart
7 Sandy Cameron
8 Angus D. MacColl
9 Peter McCalister
10 Brian Lamond
11 Angus J. MacColl
12 Sarah Muir
13 William Geddes
14 Craig Sutherland
B Grade Piobaireachd
1 Greig Canning
2 Graham Mulholland
3 Ben Mulhearn
4 Calum Brown
5 Callum Wynd
6 John McDonald
7 Jamie Elder
8 John Cameron
9 Dan Nevans
10 Kris Coyle
11 Andrew Hall
12 Jonathon Simpson
13 Charlie Macdonald
14 Eddie Gaul
15 Steven Gray
16 Ben Duncan
17 Bruce MacDonald
18 John Dew
19 John McElmurry
20 Andrew Ferguson
21 Finlay Cameron
22 Gordon Barclay
23 Eireann MacKay
C Grade Piobaireachd
1 Timothy Ness
2 Scott Wallace
3 Robert Ross
4 Caitlin Macdonald
5 Bradley Parker
6 Enora Morice
7 Gregor McCulloch
8 John McLaren
9 Gwenael Dage
10 Finlay Frame
11 Brad Davidson
12 Brodie Watson-Massey
13 Graham McIver
14 Anna Smart
15 Calum Maclean
16 Andrew Hutton
17 Scott McKay
18 Kyle Shead
19 Andrew Yu
Light Music 1
1 Peter McCalister
2 Gwenael Dage
3 Finlay Frame
4 Eddie Gaul
5 Craig Sutherland
6 Brian Lamond
7 Timothy Ness
8 Kyle Shead
9 Steven Gray
10 Finlay Cameron
11 John McElmurry (MSR only)
12 Callum Beaumont
13 Eireann MacKay (MSR only)
14 Caitlin Macdonald
Light Music 2
1 John McDonald
2 Angus D. MacColl
3 Jonathon Simpson
4 Brad Davidson
5 Brodie Watson-Massey
6 Andrew Hall
7 Anna Smart
8 William Geddes
9 Pipe Major Ben Duncan
10 Greig Canning
11 Andrew Ferguson
12 Scott Wallace
13 Darach Urquhart
Light Music 3
1 Sandy Cameron
2 Jamie Elder
3 Dan Nevans
4 Gordon Barclay
5 Scott Mckay
6 Angus J. MacColl
7 Andrew Hutton
8 Andrew Yu
9 Steven Leask
10 Graham Mulholland
11 Graham Drummond
12 Robert Ross
13 Callum Wynd
Light Music 4
1 Gregor McCulloch
2 John McLaren
3 Kris Coyle
4 Charlie Macdonald
5 John Dew
6 Graham McIver
7 Sarah Muir
8 Finlay Clark
9 Matt Wilson
10 Calum Brown
11 Jonathan Greenlees
12 Bradley Parker
13 Enora Morice
Junior Piobaireachd
1 Christopher Happs
2 Hamish Drennan
3 Andrew Orr
4 Dugald MacKechnie
5 Bobby Allen
6 Gregor Grierson
7 Ruaraidh Drennan
8 Gregor Macdonald
9 Ronnie McIntosh
Junior MSR
1 Dugald MacKechnie
2 Bobby Allen
3 Hamish Drennan
4 Christopher Happs
5 Ronnie McIntosh
6 Gregor Macdonald
7 Ruaraidh Drennan
8 Andrew Orr
9 Gregor Grierson
Junior Jig
1 Ronnie McIntosh
2 Gregor Macdonald
3 Gregor Grierson
4 Andrew Orr
5 Ruaraidh Drennan
6 Dugald MacKechnie
7 Bobby Allen
8 Christopher Happs
9 Hamish Drennan
The weather forecast for Sunday is cloudy with a chance of rain. The temperature should be around 11˚C-14˚C.
Last year’s contest took place amid sweltering weather conditions and saw Gordon McCready win the Premier/A Grade Ceòl Mòr contest and Ben Duncan with B Grade. Angus MacColl took the Open MSR and Open Hornipipe & Jig.
