City of Dunedin: 2019 North American Champions

Maxville, Ontario – August 3, 2019 – The City of Dunedin Pipe Band of Dunedin, Florida, won the North American Pipe Band Championship at the 72nd annual Glengarry Highland Games, held in overall excellent weather, with only a brief light shower on Saturday afternoon for the two days of events before a massive crowd of spectators.

The 78th Fraser Highlanders were mistakenly announced as 2019 North American Champions and marched off the field as the winning band. However, an error of transposed results was discovered later, and then another error in using an incorrect tie-break. Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario president Chris Buchanan apologized and took full responsibility for the error.

According to PPBSO rules, a tie in Grade 1 at Maxville is broken by the aggregate result of both ensemble marks. If a tie remains, the higher MSR ensemble mark determines the winner. It was reportedly thought that the overall MSR result was the tie-breaker. The rule is D-16.2 in the PPBSO’s rule book.

City of Dunedin were informed of their win later on Saturday evening in the beer-tent, after the 78th Frasers had played in in celebration. Unfortunately, after they learned of their win, City of Dunedin was unable to perform in the beer-tent after the ceilidh band was playing and didn’t realize what had happened.

The major mistake put a significant damper on what was otherwise an excellent weekend of competition that once again, by number of competitors, events and attendance, the largest contest in the piping and drumming world.

It was the first time that an American band won the North American Championship since the 1960s when Worcester Kiltie last took the prize. The win means that, for the first time ever, the reigning winner of Grade 2 at the World Pipe Band Championship is also the winner of the North American Championship at one time.

Matt MacIsaac was the Professional Piper of the Day and Derek Cooper took Professional Snare Drummer of the Day honours. Liam Melville won Amateur Piper of the Day, and Blair Beaton took the equivalent amateur snare title.

Bands
Grade 1
Overall
1st City of Dunedin (combined ens.pref.)
2nd 78th Fraser Highlanders
3rd 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel)
Drumming: 78th Fraser Highlanders

Medley
1st City of Dunedin (2,1,1,1)
2nd 78th Fraser Highlanders (1,2,2,2)
3rd 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) (3,3,3,3)
Bass Section: City of Dunedin
Judges: Jim McGillivray, Robert Mathieson (piping); Duncan Millar (drumming); Bob Worrall (ensemble)

MSR
1st 78th Fraser Highlanders (1,1,1,2)
2nd City of Dunedin (2,2,2,1)
3rd 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) (3,3,3,3)
Bass Section: 78th Fraser Highlanders
Judges: Lynda Mackay, Glenna Mackay-Johnstone (piping); Greg Dinsdale (drumming); Andrew Berthoff (ensemble)

Grade 2
Overall
1st Peel Regional Police
2nd Worcester Kiltie
3rd Toronto Police
4th Ottawa Police Service
5th New York Metro
6th Greater Midwest

Medley
1st Peel Regional Police (1,2,3,3)
2nd Worcester Kiltie (2,3,2,4)
3rd Toronto Police (5,4,4,1)
4th Ottawa Police Service (3,1,6,6)
5th Greater Midwest (4,6,5,2)
6th New York Metro (6,5,1,5)
Bass Section: Peel Police
Judges: Judges: Lynda Mackay, Glenna Mackay-Johnstone (piping); Greg Dinsdale (drumming); Andrew Berthoff (ensemble)

MSR
1st Peel Regional Police (1,3,3,1)
2nd Worcester Kiltie (3,2,1,3)
3rd Ottawa Police Service (2,1,6,4)
4th Toronto Police (4,5,4,2)
5th New York Metro (5,4,2,5)
6th Greater Midwest (6,6,5,6)
Bass Section: Peel Police
Judges: Judges: Jim McGillivray, Robert Mathieson (piping); Duncan Millar (drumming); Bob Worrall (ensemble)

Grade 3 (MSR)
1st Guelph (1,2,6,1)
2nd Fredericton Society of Saint Andrew (9,4,4,2)
3rd College of Piping (4,6,1,8)
4th 8 Wing (3,7,7,3)
5th Ottawa Highlanders (2,1,11,6)
6th Robert Malcolm Memorial (6,3,5,7)
7th Ryan Russell Memorial (8,5,3,10)
8th Ulster Scottish (5,8,2,11)
9th Glengarry (7,9,10,4)
10th Rob Roy (11,11,8,5)
11th MacMillan-Birtles (12,12,9,9)
12th Wake & District (10,10,12,12)
Bass Section: Guelph
Judges: Brian Williamson, Charlie MacDonald (piping); Hugh Cameron (drumming); Jim McGillivray (ensemble)

Grade 4 (medley)
1st Dartmouth & District (1,1,1,1)
2nd Durham Regional Police (2,2,3,3)
3rd Hamilton Police (6,3,2,2)
4th Niagara Regional Police (4,4,5,5)
5th Peel Regional Police (5,7,4,4)
6th Kevin Barry (3,9,9,6)
7th Barrie (8,8,8,7)
8th Claddagh (9,5,10,8)
9th Georgetown (10,6,6,10)
10th St Andrews of Winnipeg (7,10,7,9)
Bass Section: Hamilton Police
Judges: Peter Sinclair, Robert Mathieson (piping); Duncan Millar (drumming); Bob Worrall (ensemble)

Grade 5 (march medley)
1st Cape Breton University (1,2,3,5)
2nd London Fire Fighters (2,5,4,2)
3rd Fredericton Society of Saint Andrew (4,3,6,3)
4th Ryan Russell Memorial (9,4,5,1)
5th Paris-Port Dover (5,12,2,7)
6th Lindsay (3,8,12,4)
7th Kingston Police (8,1,13,8)
8th Smiths Falls Gordon (6,6,9,10)
9th Ottawa Caledonian (11,9,11,6)
10th Niagara Regional Police (7,15,7,9)
11th Dartmouth & District (16,7,8,13)
12th College of Piping (14,17,1,16)
13th Rob Roy (17,13,10,12)
14th Black Watch Association (12,11,17,15)
15th Quigley Highlanders (13,18,14,11)
16th Glengarry (10,14,15,17)
17th Connie Blaney Memorial Youth (18,10,16,14)
18th Sons of Scotland (15,16,18,19)
19th South Glengarry (19,19,19,18)
Bass Section: Ryan Russell Memorial
Judges:  Peter Sinclair, Charlie MacDonald (piping); Greg Dinsdale (drumming); Lynda Mackay (ensemble)

Professional Solos
Piping
A Piobaireachd
1st James MacHattie, Summerside, Prince Edward Island, “The Old Men of the Shells”
2nd Zephan Knichel, Surrey, British Columbia
3rd Bobby Durning, Salem, Massachusetts
4th Glenn Walpole, Toronto
5th Callum Harper, Bolton, Ontario
6th Andy Rogers, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Judge: Jim McGillivray

B Piobaireachd (seven competed)
1st Tyler Johnson, Michigan, “MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart”
2nd Austin Diepenhorst, San Diego, “The King’s Taxes”
3rd Brad Davidson, Kitchener, Ontario, “The MacDougalls’ Gathering”
4th Dylan Whittamore, Guelph, Ontario, “The End of the Great Bridge”
5th Tyler Harris, Hamilton, Ontario, “The Earl of Seaforth’s Salute”
6th Mike Allegretti, “I Am Proud to Play a Pipe”
Judge: Andrew Berthoff

MSR
1st Bruce Gandy, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
2nd Callum Harper
3rd Ben McClamrock, Washington, DC
4th Matt MacIsaac, Stayner, Ontario
5th Andrea Boyd, Toronto
6th Ian K. MacDonald, Whitby, Ontario
Judge: Robert Mathieson

March
1st Ian K. MacDonald
2nd Ben McClamrock
3rd Matt MacIsaac
4th Callum Harper
5th Dan Lyden, Maryland
6th Andrea Boyd
Judge: Hector MacDonald

Strathspey & Reel
1st Matt MacIsaac
2nd Andrea Boyd
3rd Callum Harper
4th Ben McClamrock
5th Austin Diepenhorst
6th Glenn Walpole
Judge: Bob Worrall

Jigs
1st Matt MacIsaac
2nd Ian K. MacDonald
3rd Glenn Walpole
4th Zephan Knichel
5th Jacob Dicker, Ottawa
6th Andrea Boyd
Judge: Pete Aumonier

Snare Drumming
MSR
1st Derek Cooper
2nd Eric MacNeil
3rd Cameron McKail
4th Cameron Bolley
5th Kyle Wardell
6th Iain Bell
Judge: Hugh Cameron

Hornpipe & Jig
1st Derek Cooper
2nd Eric MacNeill
3rd Iain Bell
4th Cameron McKail
5th Cameron Bolley
6th Kyle Wardell
Judge: Duncan Millar

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