Gregor Edmunds

Background

Edmunds was born in 1977 to Moira and Douglas Edmunds and grew up in the south of Glasgow. Strength runs through the male line. His paternal grandfather, John Morris from Fife is said to have been part of a gang of fervent Scottish nationalists, that included the poet Hugh MacDiarmid, which planned to steal the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey. Such was John Morris' strength that he was to be responsible for carrying the stone, and trained for this task by lifting a heavy steel ingot at his work at the Beardmore forge in Glasgow. The family changed the name from Morris to Edmunds because John was convicted of bigamy and desertion. Gregor Edmunds' great-grandfather, also called John Morris, fought for money in boxing booths. Gregor's father, Douglas was the World Caber Tossing Champion in the 1970s and wrote an autobiography titled "The World's Greatest Tosser". Douglas was also a founder of The World's Strongest Man competition. Despite being immersed in strength sports Edmunds initially asked for a skateboard for his tenth birthday but was given a shot putt. Following in his father's footsteps, he began training for Highland Games events and at the age of 17 he was Scottish Junior Highland Games Champion. Additionally, he studied and completed an HND in Sports Therapy Twickenham]].

Career

After winning the Scottish Junior Highland Games Championship he went on to compete in Highland Games events around the world. Like with his father he competed in the Braemar Gathering. They remain the only father and son combination to have won the famous Braemar Caber and the overall points championship. In 2007 he became IHGF World Highland Games Champion, ending a five-year American hold on that title. In 2010 Edmunds won the SHGA World Championship. Edmunds also competed successfully in strongman competitions, winning the title of Scotland's Strongest Man in 2002 and going on to compete at the World's Strongest Man reaching the grand finals and finishing in 8th place. He was also second in Britain's Strongest Man in 2002 and 2003.

Gregor set an SHGA Highland Games world record in the 28 lb. weight for distance at the 2011 Markinch Highland Games on 5 June 2011. His world record throw was 95'10", a full 3'5" further than the previous world record. This throw also broke the American record by 1'4"and is officially recognised as the biggest throw of all time.

Gregor won the 2011 Highlander Challenge on 18 June 2011.

The Highlander Challenge

The lack of young Scottish Highland Games competitors led Edmunds and his father to organise the Highlander Challenge. He is quoted as saying: "When I go over to America, I'm up against ex-Olympians, really good sportsmen, and here I might be competing against some guy standing about and smoking a cigarette who then has a throw against me. That's not pushing me and it's not going to bring people into the sport. If we can create something spectacular, though, the younger ones will aspire to that. It's like great footballers – everyone wants to wear their shirt. That's what we want to do with the Highlander Challenge. I'd love to be someone's hero." In 2007 the Highlander Challenge was successful in achieving record breaking viewing figures for its time slot enough to spawn a larger event in 2008 at Scone Palace.

Strength Sport Specialist

Edmunds is currently the MD of The Highland Games Consultancy ltd (www.hgc-ltd.com). Organising and running Highland Games and Strength Athletics events throughout the world and is recognised as the premier equipment specialist in both Highland Games and World Strongest Man events.

Edmunds is also the Equipment Manager at the prestigious World Strongest Man event and has held this position since 2008, designing and fabricating new concepts and equipment for World Strongest Man.

www.hgc-ltd.com

Personal life

Gregor currently lives with his South African wife and 4 children (3 step-children and 1 biological daughter) in Glasgow.