A highland games event in Dunedin connected children to the area’s Scottish heritage on Saturday.
About 100 children aged from 6 to 12 years old took part in the Otago Children’s Athletics’ Paape Games at the Caledonian Ground.
Committee member Hayley McHutchon said the event was newly created this year.
It was a successor of the Paape Cup, a collaboration with the Caledonian Society which dissolved in 2020.
"We decided to do something as a bit of a throwback ... to our Scottish roots and heritage," she said.
However, the format of this year’s games was more inclusive and fun.
Children from the Taieri, Hill City, Ariki and Caversham athletics clubs rotated between the different activities.
These included a tug of war, gumboot throwing, caber tossing, sheaf tossing, sack races and stone carrying.
"There are lots of smiles, everybody is having a great day," she said.
All the activities were based on the organisation’s athletic principals of "run, jump, throw", and it was a good way to have fun and unwind just before Christmas.
Based on all the positive feedback, it was likely the games would be held again next year.
