HALLOWELL — Barrel-chested, red-haired Will Barron first got into Scottish heavy athletics when he was 12, after discovering it at the Maine Highland Games in 1988. He fell in love with the sport for the culture surrounding it and because it seemed like a natural activity for someone like him who excelled at track and field events that test competitors’ skills and strength.

Deb Googins, wearing a leather glove to protect her broken pinky and socks that proclaim “bad ass,” got into the sport at 51, on a bet with a friend on whether she could do it. Her decision at the time, she explained Saturday at the second annual Hallowell Backyard Games, was fueled by Scotland’s national drink, whisky.

“You want to know how I got into this? Whisky and questionable life choices, that’s literally how,” said the now-57-year-old Googins. Next weekend, she’ll be off to Mississippi to compete in the Scottish Masters World Championship.

Barron, who lives in Belgrade, turned professional in 2001, competing in Highland Games heavy events around the country; since 2017 he has competed in the professional masters’ division. Far from preserving his competitive edge by protecting his knowledge of the nine-event Highland Games heavy lifting sport, Barron was quick to share advice Saturday and show newcomers how to throw the weights, stones, hammers, or logs of each particular event.

“The camaraderie, the friendship, is embedded into the competition,” Barron said. Earlier this year, he helped run the children’s events at the Maine Highland Games and Scottish Festival held for the first time at Windsor Fairgrounds, bringing them into the sport.

Most of the nearly 50 athletes taking part in the Hallowell Backyard Games, held Saturday at the normally tranquil city recreation area known as The Res, were neither professionals nor expecting to compete in a world championship.

Kara Tudman, of Hallowell, is a former basketball player and high jumper who until Saturday had never thrown a stone, weight or log competitively.

Barron helped her find the right technique in the stone throw for distance event. After she threw, her fellow contestants celebrated her personal record for that event by putting a unicorn tiara on her head. The unicorn is a national symbol of Scotland.

“I’ve never done this before, so everything is a PR,” Tudman said, adding that she loved her newfound sport. “It’s such a wonderful group of people.”

Some of the athletes supplemented their water bottles with flasks, taking a nip between events. Bagpiper Joshua Hopkins of Sanford played off and on throughout the event.

Googins, who like other competitors was quick to praise the throws of others, said one of the coolest things about the sport is, “every other person on the field wants you to have your best day.”

Organizer Dave  McIntosh of Hallowell said Saturday’s event, which he hopes will introduce the sport to more people in the area, drew nearly 50 competitors, well up from last year’s inaugural event. Nearly all competitors wore kilts. A couple dozen or so spectators took in the spectacle, which was free.

Events included throwing stones and metal weights for both distance and height, as well as the hammer throw in which competitors whirled a pole with a heavy metal ball on the end of it over their heads before launching it as far as they could across the field.

The tattooed and bearded Teejay Sinclair of Waterville has competed in strongman events but is new to heavy athletics events. He said he prefers the heavy athletics events, because they’re easier on his body than lifting massive weights.

Sinclair’s fiancé and 4-year-old daughter were there watching. He said his daughter has her own set of stones and weights, downsized for her.

“She loves it, she throws everything at home,” Sinclair said. “She’s going to be the strongest girl I know.”

In the caber toss, participants pick up the caber — a log generally around 19 feet long weighing 80 pounds — and balance it against their body before throwing it into the air. The goal is to flip it end over end and have it land perfectly straight, or in the 12 o’clock position.

Lindsay Sharkey of Bryant Pond was aiming for a personal record in the weight for distance throwing competition, but fell about 7 feet short of her 57-foot personal record for throwing the 14-pound weight on a chain.

Nonetheless she remained buoyant, dancing in between throws, and cheering on her fellow competitors.