A Coquitlam drummer has done it again.
Last Saturday (Aug. 19), Reid Maxwell and his drum corps with the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Pipe Band defended their international title by placing first at the World Pipe Band Championships in Scotland.
"The drum corps taking the top prize in the championship for a second straight year really makes it so hard to find the right words at the moment," Maxwell told the university's communications team after the event.
"Once it has all sunk in it will start to get easier, I hope. Still a little numb."
Maxwell, who has been with the SFU ensemble based out of Burnaby since 1992 after playing with the 78th Fraser Highlanders in Canada and Scotland's Dysart and Dundonald Pipe Band, now has 20 world championship prizes in band and drumming.
Meanwhile, the SFU Pipe Band scored fourth place on the Glasgow Green in a field of 16 other Grade 1 competitors while the junior 3A Robert Malcolm Memorial (RMM) Band took second spot in its contest.
The Grade 1 award went to the Scottish band Peoples Ford Boghill and Bathgate Caledonia, its first win. Second place was awarded to Field Marshal Montgomery (last year’s winner) and third to Inveraray and District (last year's silver holder).
SFU has been named world champions six times; the last victory was in 2009.
SFU Pipe Major Alan Bevan said he's pleased with the recent championship results.
Last week, the group performed to a sold-out crowd at the SECC in Glasgow, which drew 2,500 attendees — the biggest audience ever for a traditional pre-Worlds concert.
"We are ecstatic and so proud that Reid and the corps are World Drum Corps champions for the second straight year, and we were very happy with the band's overall finish — the highest we have been in several years," Bevan said in a news release.
"It shows that the band is headed in the right direction and is something we can build on as we go forward into the 2024 season. We are also extremely proud of RMM for achieving a very strong second place against a tough field in Grade 3A."
