Ed Ray competes in North Georgia Highland Games at 71

Wade Cheek/The Tribune. Highland Games veteran Ed Ray competed in this year’s North Georgia Highland Games as reportedly the oldest competitor at the age of 71.

Wade Cheek/The Clayton Tribune. Ed Ray practices his technique for the weight for distance event at this year’s North Georgia Highland Games on a sunny Sept. 30 at the Rabun County Civic Center pavilions. The event will return next year.

Wade Cheek/The Clayton Tribune. Competitors celebrate after a successful caber toss in this year’s North Georgia Highland Games. The Caber Toss is when athletes must flip a tall wooden pole where the goal is to have the pole land in the 12-o’clock position.

Wade Cheek/The Clayton Tribune. In the weight for distance throw, the weight is thrown with one hand from a rectangular area behind a toe board or trig. The younger male division competed in this event first during the Sept. 30 North Georgia Highland Games.

Wade Cheek/The Clayton Tribune. Professional Highland Games athletes were in attendance where they competed in each required event.

Wade Cheek/The Clayton Tribune. Tossing the Sheaf is one of the traditional events in the Highland Games where a 20-pound burlap bag stuffed with straw is thrown over a set bar.