Results

Bearsden, Scotland’s Willie McCallum was the overall winner of the 2024 Uist & Barra Invitational Solo Piping Competition after a tie with Sarah Muir of Glasgow, broken by a Piobaireachd preference. Only 50% of Hornpipe & Jig result counted toward the aggregate trophy.

The thirteenth annual Redding Bagpipe Competition attracted a solid entry from across North America, and ultimately Malachi Johannsen of Modesto, California, was the Grade 1 aggregate winner, gaining an invitation to compete at the Sandy Jones Memorial Amateur Championship on November 9th at the Sun Belt Invitational in Florida.

The Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) held its latest in-person, live-in-the-flesh-and-wool competition at the National Piping Centre’s McPhater Street premises. It was John Frater who won the overall trophy in the Grade 1 class, while John Nevans and Kathryn McEwan took the aggregate trophies in Grade 2 and Grade 3, respectively.

With a first in the MSR and a second in the Medley, Connor Sinclair of Crieff, Scotland, was the overall champion of the 2024 Ardmore Cup Invitational Solo Piping Competition at St. Declan’s Village Hall in Ardmore, Waterford, Ireland. Sinclair gained the big prize for the second straight year.

Gillian Blaney of Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, was the big winner, taking all four events. Blaney gained an invitation to compete in the CLASP Champion of Champions competition on April 27th. Since she had already qualified because of winning the top amateur prize at last year’s Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario, runner-up Charles-David Mitchell of Montreal gets an invitation.

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia’s Alex Gandy won the 2024 Metro Cup Solo Piping Championship held at the Holiday Inn Newark Airport Hotel, gaining the prize by winning the Piobaireachd event and finishing third in the freestyle Medley competition. Gandy received a total of US$2,400 for his success, with the champion receiving an additional $1,000. It was his first time winning the event after finishing second no fewer than four times.

Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Leading Drummer Kerr McQuillan won the Intercontinental Solo Snare Drumming Championship at the Holiday Inn Newark Airport Hotel as an event adjacent to the Metro Cup Solo Piping Championships. McQuillan was first on “adjudicator preference” over runner-up Steven McWhirter of Inveraray & District.

The second annual Skye K. Richendrfer Memorial Challenge was held again at Macalester College, the competition’s namesake’s alma mater. The winner was Justice Peterson of St. Paul, Minnesota, who played “The MacLeods’ Salute” for judges Andrew Douglas, Andrew Lewis, and Tad Myers.

Stuart Easton of Palmerston North, New Zealand, was the overall winner of the Open solo piping competitions at the Turakina Highland Games on New Zealand’s North Island. Easton won both light music events, while Rura, New Zealand’s Brendon Eade won the Piobaireachd. It was the 159th staging of the event, making it one of the world’s longest-running Highland games.

The National Piping Centre’s Otago Street premises were the venue for the first event of the 2024 Competition League for Adult Solo Pipers (CLASP), and the overall winners on the day were John Frater in Grade 1; Grade 2, Donald Morrison; and Adam Aitchison in Grade 3. In-person and online competitions will be held throughout the year as part of CLASP’s ongoing effort to provide contests for solo pipers older than 18 in the UK who want to compete but not against professional-class players. CLASP is run by the National Piping Centre.