The world championship to throw stones into the water exists and, curiously, is not in a United States in which its competitions are “worldwide.” If there is Mobile repairthat of collect trash from the street or that of Microsoft Excelof course there was going to be something like that. It is celebrated in Scotland, and hundreds of participants demonstrate their expertise every year as you expect: throwing stones into the water to see who gets more rebounds. The problem is that there are those who even cheat.
And it has been a scandal.
Tradition. He World Stone Skimming Championshipsby its official name in English, it is a tournament that has been held since 1983 on the island of EasdaleScotland, after two people came up with the idea … taking something in a pub. As usually happens with picturesque quotes, the event was born as a punctual celebration, but little by little the thing became serious until it was institutionalized in 1997. Since then, it has become an annual tradition and an attraction that attracts hundreds of tourists.
There are rules. Traditionally, the appointment is celebrated in September in a flooded quarry that was an exploitation of slate. The island It has a population of about 60 people, but during the competition, it is multiplied by both the participants and the curious. And although it consists of throwing stones, there are rules and categories.
The first thing is that it is divided by sexes and age, where they can participate to over 60 years. Each participant has three releases to make only natural slate stones that find the island. They cannot exceed three inches in diameter (just over seven and a half centimeters) and the competition is simple: the stones must throw two or three times (something that is marked at the beginning of the competition) on the water without leaving a specific area.
There are few jumps because the rebounds are not measured, but the distance traveled by the stone. Seeing them throwing is a true show, especially because of the huge distance traveled between the first rebound and the next.
A party. And the competitors take it seriously: they train for it and the releases are prepared well, but in the end it is a great party with an atmosphere in which there is music, food and the awards are commemorative, but not in metallic. It is an event to, above all, generate funds for the local community. 15,000 pounds last year. Remember those Activities that villages of empty Spain are taken out of the manga to value its surroundings and generate funds that allow covering expenses in the town.
Cheats. That is why he has caught the attention that, in this year’s edition, some contestants cheated. And you will wonder “How can you cheat in something like that?” In an episode of ‘The Simpsons’ Of the last seasons, Homer uses stones tied to a rope that Bart drags from the other side. It is nothing so elaborate.
To enforce the stone diameter limit, the organization has something baptized as the ‘ring of truth’, a tool through which the stone with which it will compete to verify that the size is correct is passed. That tool has a skinny point: it measures the diameter, but not the shape or any possible modification. During the competition, Thursday and other players They detected Something weird in some stones: they were too perfect, so they began to review more exhaustively, discovering that several had been polished to achieve more symmetrical forms and improve the physical characteristics of the rock.
First of all, it’s a party
Uneasiness. That has sat as a jug of cold water both among the honest competitors and between the attendees and the local community, precisely, so we commented on some lines: the atmosphere is, above all, festive, so they did not imagine that someone began to polish stones that were, they were from Easdale, but illegal.
Kyle Mathews is one of the organizers and “official teacher” of stone launch and commented to The New York Times That there was something ‘honest’ in this story. When he contacted the suspects, they all immediately admitted what they had done and accepted the punishment of disqualification. He also removed iron into the matter by commenting that it was “flattering” that someone took the competition so seriously.
Note for the future. And the truth is that it has not been badly resolved. Lucy Wood has the Guinness record The one that accumulates the most victories in this World Cup, also told NYT that it was surprised by how well the matter had been resolved. “You wouldn’t see something like that in many sports,” he said. And the truth is that people do take the competition seriously: only last year, 2,000 people registered online to get one of the 400 seats, which sold out in less than three minutes.
This year, more than 2,000 attended to contemplate the event (imagine the life they can give to the island) and there are players who point to growing competitive pressure due to what is growing. The question of what they will do if this happens again has an easy answer: to grant pre -approved stones to the competitors.
So, you know: if you have a lake nearby and discover that you are good by throwing stones, maybe next September you can find the glory in Scotland.
Images | Stoneskimming
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