The next Extreme Sport: Jousting!

[Valiss]

The New York Times has a pretty good article about Jousting and it's potential to become the next Extreme Sport. Here's a clip:

"But then, in the third jousting match of the evening, Shane Adams, who was heavily favored to win the championships, faced Rhos Tolle, a 54-year-old retired Marine who was jousting competitively for the first time. Adams struck Tolle squarely in the chest with his lance and sent him flying from his horse.

It was as if someone had sent an electric current through the arenas aluminum bleachers. Men leapt to their feet with their fists in the air. Teenage girls clutched one anothers arms. Tolle lay on his back on the ground flanked by two squires and didnt move for a full minute. When the squires pulled him to his feet, he stumbled and nearly fell again before limping off.

I want to see another guy get paralyzed, a boy in front of me squealed, waving a toy sword. "

There is a lot more, as well as a video, here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/magazine/11Jousting-t.html

Enjoy!

[VIII]

... and we get to see this magnificent sport every day of Faire!

You just gotta wonder how those "Sports Enthusiasts" get of calling us geeks and freaks 

[Valiss]

I know, right?

But I think this article is different from the jousting at faire. At our local faire anyway, most of what I see is demo, scripted or 'friendly' jousting. I think the guys in the article are treating a bit more hardcore, if you will, and really going at it. I think they are trying to make it a full contact sport.

[Mairte]

OUCH    Given the chance, I would still watch though!

[Master James]

Yeah no balsa wood tips or breakaway lances.  These things are the real deal just like it was "back in the day".  People can and do get hurt doing it this way.  Now does this make it better?  Don't know.  Its certainly different.

[Lairde Guardn]

One of the reasons that I attend MDRF is because they have "real" jousting at least one weekend......then again the State Sport of Maryland is Jousting......

[renfairephotog]

I agree with him. I want to see a real joust but keep the festival trappings.

For Hedgecock, it makes no sense to joust while ignoring the past. "Without the history, you might as well do it on motorcycles," he says. "If we didn't have historical knights, we wouldn't have jousting."

yep that was a movies at some point.

[renfairephotog]

Thanks for posting the article. I shared it on my blog.

[Lady Toadflinger]

Several years ago at the Sonora Celtic Faire in California's Gold Country, we got to see world competition jousting.  It was stunning!  There were jousters from all over the world, and even women jousters.  This was my introduction to jousting, and I attended the competition each year until it moved elsewhere. Unfortunately I now cannot watch the staged events now presented at our local faires! I sure wish they would come back to Northern Cal with the real stuff.

[Valiss]

Several years ago at the Sonora Celtic Faire in California's Gold Country, we got to see world competition jousting.
It was stunning!
There were jousters from all over the world, and even women jousters.
This was my introduction to jousting, and I attended the competition each year until it moved elsewhere. Unfortunately I now cannot watch the staged events now presented at our local faires! I sure wish they would come back to Northern Cal with the real stuff.

Oh, are you talking about this?

http://www.joustingchampionships.com/

I always wanted to check that out, but it's a bit far for us.  Looks cool though!

[Capt. Morgan]

This could be interesting...the announcers could be in period garb instead of tailored suits! 

[DonaCatalina]

I know, right?

But I think this article is different from the jousting at faire. At our local faire anyway, most of what I see is demo, scripted or 'friendly' jousting. I think the guys in the article are treating a bit more hardcore, if you will, and really going at it. I think they are trying to make it a full contact sport.

The jousting at Four Winds Faire is competitive jousting. Its done tournament style and the standings are posted weekly even though I don't know exactly how they score it.

[GirlChris]

Shane Adams and the Knights of Valour are the jousters at several faires around Southern Ontario. One faire has a group that does the balsa tips, and after seeing full contact jousting the balsa tips seem so... tame.

[Capt Gabriela Fullpepper]

At the Estes Park Scottish highland games in Sept they have full on combat jousting. The lances are balsa wood but when you have a percheron or a Belgium warhorse which is what a knight rode charging at full on speed and the knight CANNOT use his reins, you do see a knight unseated on occasion and even injuried. The games there are the championship and the prize is $50,000 for 1st place.

The do light armor, basically chainmail, helm and shield, Skills with spear toss, ring catch and quinlan, and heavy joust with plate armor and no shield in hand but the one over the chest, shoulder and neck.

Three years ago the campion jousted with a broken collar bone on Sundays joust. We saw him saturday doing the skills and you could see the major pain he was enduring.

[BLAKDUKE]

I'm not sure if the "they might as well use motorcycles" was intended as an opinion  or a reference to the Ed Harris film
"Knightriders"  where-in they actually do use motorcycles.  Another modernistically set film is "Choice of Weapons" set in modern day england.  Neither will win any awards but both are good films on a rainy night.