Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Jess Aydlette of Goose Creek, S.C., participates in the weight throw during the heavyweight games at the Radford Highlanders Festival at Radford University on Saturday.

Festivalgoers watch a sheep-herding demonstration at the Radford Highlanders Festival on Saturday.

Hannah Manry, 2, dances on Moffett Field during a performance of three bagpipe and drum groups at the Radford Highlanders Festival on Saturday. The festival, which was first held in 1996, is a joint effort between the city of Radford and the university.

RADFORD -- "Ahhh-aaaa!"

Thud.

"Aaaaaarrrrrrrrrr!"

Thud.

The traditional sounds of autumn at Radford University reverberated across Moffett Field on Saturday as kilt-clad men and women gritted their teeth and hurled heavy things through the air at the annual Scottish games.

For 14 years, Don Bowman has overseen the heavyweight games, a major draw of the annual Radford Highlanders Festival.

"To expose the campus and the community to these skills ... is a unique opportunity," Bowman said.

This year 21 contestants competed in seven events, including the caber toss -- where competitors pick up a tree trunk, run with it and hurl it end over end.

The cabers measure 12 to 20 feet long and weigh up to 160 pounds. Throwing them is a feat of strength and balance.

Other events include the hammer throw and the sheaf toss, wherein contestants throw a weighted burlap bag straight up in the air using a pitchfork.

Since 2002, Jess and Josh Aydlette of Goose Creek, S.C., have dominated the competition, breaking records established through the North American Scottish Games Athletics, a competitor-run Web site and database.

On Saturday, Jess Aydlette, 25, broke the women's world record in the sheaf toss, hefting a 16-pound burlap sack 20 feet in the air.

The Christiansburg native and Radford graduate already held records for the 10- and 12-pound sheafs.

She hadn't expected to do that well Saturday, knowing she had to use the heavier men's sheaf because she forgot to bring her own "woman-sized" one.

"I'm going to forget it more often," she quipped.

The win was particularly satisfying, coming as it did near the end of a punishing eight-hour competition.

Josh Aydlette, 30, had his own sweet successes, including an 89.9-foot hammer throw and his near perfect caber toss.

"It's really mental," he said of the tree trunk hurling. "It scared me for a while. It's not normal to run around with a tree in your hands."

The Aydlettes participate in about 10 Scottish games a year, traveling as far away as California to compete on the amateur circuit.

It's something the couple can do together that reminds them of their days as high school and college track and field competitors.

"It's my hobby, my outlet," Josh Aydlette said. "It keeps me in shape."

It also keeps him tied to his roots. He's a little Scottish on his grandmother's side, he said.

His wife isn't, but looks the part in her Hawaiian tartan sport kilt.

The couple adopted the blue-themed kilt out of their love of Hawaii, where they spent their honeymoon.

Radford's first president, John Preston McConnell, was of Scots-Irish heritage. In the 1970s the school adopted the nickname "Highlanders" for its athletic teams as a nod to McConnell and the Scots-Irish settlers of the region.

When he was Radford's president, Douglas Covington introduced the Highlanders Festival in 1996 to unite the school, which has no football team, to build its homecoming around.

Today, the event is a joint effort between the city of Radford and the university and is no longer held during the school's homecoming.