What were the people doing? – the past progressive
In the 11th century King Malcolm III was trying to find sportsmen.
Men were running up mountains for him. → was/were + verb-ing Women weren’t throwing the caber. → was/were + not + verb-ing Was King Malcolm looking for strong men only?
Why weren’t they looking for women? → (question word) was/were + subject + verb-ing
We use the past progressive to say what was happening at a certain time in the past