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BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN 2014
Monday, 2nd Jun 2014Champion of Champions Haggis contest was held on Monday 2nd June 2014 at the Battle of Bannockburn Heritage Centre
It was a totally savoury affair as Chieftains went into combat in the Battle of Bannockburn 2014 and the victor was 2001 champion from Huntly. Â Seven hundred years after the famous home win however there was not be one of proud Edward's army in sight. This contest brought together all the Scots to have had the honour of holding the Scottish Haggis Championship title and the Champion of Champions contest celebrates 2014 as the Year of the Haggis.Â
On Monday 2 June, the National Trust for Scotland's new Heritage Centre at Bannockburn was the venue for this haggis competition for the elite of the pudding race.
In previous years all the competitors have all gained the status of being declared a Champion of Haggis making but from the Bannockburn battlefield only one could emerge with the ultimate accolade of being the Champion of Champions.
Contestants who went head to head with Patricks of Camelon; Scotts of Huntly; James Pirie & Son, Newtyle; George Cockburn & Sons, Dingwall;Â Stuarts of Buckhaven; McKirdys of Port Seton; TH Carson, Dalbeattie;Â J A Waters, Selkirk and reigning haggis champions, Findlays of Portobello.
Nine of the title holders reaching back as far as the first ever winner in 1976 - Cockburns of Dingwall - did battle in an effort to win the votes of the judges.Â
After giving the judges a really difficult task, the winner was George Fullarton from Scotts of Huntly.
Judges were Murdo Morrison, Hon President of the Robert Burns World Federation, Ian Faulds, President of the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders and Louise Harley from Year of the Haggis sponsors, Grampian Oat Products.
Speaking at Bannockburn after receiving the prized trophy George Fullarton said:-
"I am shocked, stunned, this is just brilliant. Anybody who has won the Scottish Championship has to have a good haggis so to win against all the quality there is icing on the cake.
George whose recipe first came to the top 13 years ago gave little away about
his winning formula:-
"Nothing has changed, I have never changed the recipe since I won the title in 2001. It is all hand mixed by myself, I think that gives it a better texture."
Scotts of Huntly supply butchers and good food shops from Shetland to London with next day delivery anywhere in UK. George who has concentrated increasingly on wholesaling his haggis added:-
"It should give me another step up when it comes to expanding sales. I just can't believe that I have won this given the competition."
Left to right: Ian Faulds, President of the Scottish Federation of Meat Traders, Elizabeth and George Fullarton with Louise Harley of sponsors Grampian Oat Products and Murdo Morrison, Hon President of the Robert Burns World Federation
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