Simon Fraser University Pipe Band captures third place at World Championships

The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band is coming home trumpeting a bronze shield after capturing third place at the 2024 World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland this past weekend.

The band, a mainstay of the university and perennial contenders on the world stage, is celebrating its highest placement at the event (held Aug. 16 and 17) since 2012, and the best result yet with Pipe Major and SFU alumni Alan Bevan at the helm.

"The band has worked really hard to up our game over the past year, and we felt we had put in four excellent performances that were strong in all aspects -- musically, technically and tonally,” Bevan said after the competition. “We were thrilled to make it back into the top three after a number of years.  The future looks bright!"

Scotland’s Inveraray & District Pipe Band won the event – its third world championship – and Northern Ireland’s Field Marshal Montgomery of Lisburn took second.

The world championships saw more than 200 bands from 13 different countries compete, featuring more than 7,000 pipers and drummers.

SFU’s Pipe Band has a proud and storied history as one of the very best overseas bands in the world.

They are just one of four bands from outside the United Kingdom to have ever won the championship.

Their first world championship was in 1995 and they have captured first place six times in total (1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2008 and 2009).

Beyond its six world championships, the band has landed nine seconds and placed in the top three more than 20 times. Rarely have they been out of the top five.

Multiple members of the band have also won honours in individual solo competitions over those years as well.

This year, lead drummer J. Reid Maxwell was awarded an Honorary Degree by SFU for his tremendous contributions to the world-wide success of the band.

In the process, he became the third member of the band to receive an Honorary Degree, joining Pipe Major (emeritus) Terry Lee and Pipe Sergeant Jack Lee.