The sport of urban axe throwing has hit Manchester.
We're always looking for new and interesting sports and games to play and on Friday we popped into Whistle Punks Urban Axe Throwing Arena at the Great Northern Warehouse while we were in Manchester for the Great City Games.
The lanes set up for some axe throwing
Chatting to the man there it sounds great fun and good value too, with an hour and a half of axe throwing for £20 per player off-peak. Check out the booking and FAQ pages on the Whistle Punks website for more info.
This weekend has seen the Paralympic Flame travel around Bedfordshire before it is joined with others at Stoke Mandeville to create the London 2012 Paralympic Flame. On Sunday 27th August 2012 a Paralympic Flame Festival was held at The Disability Resource Centre in Dunstable.
Emily and I went along to have a look at the Flame and see what else was going on at the event. There were stalls and games at the Flame Festival and I’d heard that there would be a chance to have a look around the centre and find out about Paralympic Sports. Emily and I had a go at Boccia (a game like Boules/Petanque) which I won :-) We’ve managed to get tickets to see Boccia at the Paralympics and are really looking forward to it.
While queuing to see the Paralympic Flame we spotted on the venue map produced for the event that the Dunstable & District Disabled Sports group would have a ‘Mini golf’ activity!
Me and Emily with the Paralympic Flame and a London 2012 Olympic Torch at The Disability Resource Centre in Dunstable
It was a Pitching/Chipping game, using a good little teeing-up machine. I managed to hit a ‘hole-in-one’ on my fifth and final go!
Pitching with a Putter on the Mini golf game at the Paralympic Flame Festival in Dunstable
It was a great event and a nice warm-up for the London 2012 Paralympic Games!
Richard throwing a boule in a game of Pétanque at Luton Regional Sports Centre
We were welcomed by a chap called Alan from the Chiltern Region of the English Pétanque Association; his Polo shirt also denoted that he was the 'Team Manager'. After being introduced to some different sizes and weights of boules we got straight to having a few practice throws and were given an introduction to the rules of the game.
Emily playing Pétanque in the Luton Community Games
We’ve both previously played Boules, but never received instruction in the game so it was nice to be given the ‘pro’ rules and told about the different game formats and how to score properly by the experts.
Richard throwing a boule in a game of Pétanque
We then paired up with a club member, with Emily and Alan taking on me and a fellow called Ian. With each player given three boules and the aim to reach 13 points to win, we began playing up and down the terrain/piste (the pitch) and each time a team scored points the playing area changed. This was because the cosh (or jack) was thrown into place between 6-10 metres from the last position of it. Therefore one of the tactics is to work out where the ‘break’ on the terrain is and how much pace and/or spin is required for each shot – no two games will be played on the exact same playing surface or area! In our first game Emily and Ian picked up the win 13-9.
The Result of Game 1 of the Pétanque in the Luton Community Games
Emily sat out the next game as Ian and I once again teamed-up, this time facing Alan and a chap called Kier (I think). This match was shorter and after scoring a four Alan’s team had a good lead. After our lack of scoring since the middle of the previous match we managed to win back the throw of the cosh and score a few points, but unfortunately Ian and I continued our 100% losing streak with a 13-4 loss.
The Result of Game 2 of the Pétanque in the Luton Community Games
A great fun way to spend a late morning and early afternoon in Luton. We were told that there are 28 clubs in the Chiltern Region. There are also some novice competitions played during the season and the club also has teams in a couple of leagues, with some players also in the England and Great Britain teams. The team have club nights on Friday’s at Luton Regional Sports Centre and will be moving to the new Inspire sports centre in Luton when their current season on the existing terrain finishes.
"Spot the Boule" contest - click here for a hi-res image - and scroll down for the 'answer'
Pétanque is a great fun sport that is easy to pick up and play, but like so many sports and games, difficult to master. The team running the Luton Community Games Pétanque sessions were nice and friendly and I could have easily spent the entire day playing the game. I’d definitely play again and hopefully next time I'll pick up a win!
The 3rd Annual UK Thumb Wrestling Championships took place at The Triangle Tavern in Lowestoft on Saturday 6th of August with a Bell-Time of 3pm.
16 Men and four Ladies stepped up to be crowned as UK Thumb Wrestling Champion and Thumb Wrestlers had travelled from East Anglia, London, Exeter, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Northern Ireland to compete in the contest!
Richard competed as 'Snack Ryder', a tribute to WWE Superstar Zack Ryder, while Emily Thumb Wrestled under her gimmick of 'Nine Lives'.
In the first-round of matches Snack Ryder was drawn to face Birmingham's 'Just Colin'. In a long bout the two grapplers gave it their all, but it was Just Colin who picked up the win, with one pin and a draw in the three-fall match-up.
Video: Snack Ryder versus Just Colin
In the Ladies UK Thumb Wrestling Championships Emily lost two falls to one against the eventual UK Ladies Thumb Wrestling Champion, Suffolk's 'Fancy-a-Thumble'.
Video: Nine-Lives versus Fancy-a-Thumble
In the Men's Final The Cobra defeated The Flash two falls to one to win the prestigious title. Video of the Match.
In the Ladies Final Fancy-a-Thumble bested the 2010 Champion Thumberlina by two falls to one to become the new Womens Champion. Video of the Match.
Photos from the 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships
The Rules of Thumb Wrestling- interestingly, if a win cannot be gained within two separate 60 second rounds then the tie will be settled with a game of sudden death “scissors, paper, stone”!
Prior to visiting the new Dinosaur Safari Adventure Golf Course at the A1 Driving Range in Arkley, Hertfordshire (the 262nd course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour) we headed to the Asda in Watford to meet up with our Minigolf opponents for the day Jon Angel and Cheryl Joseph.
The reason for meeting place?
A Doritos Dip Desperado Challenge!
Jon's company UrbanCrazy (the Great Britain Minigolf Team Sponsor) creates minigolf courses and props, and also designs and builds all sorts of giant games and features. One of which was the Doritos Dip Desperado Challenge which had been touring Asda branches all over the UK.
The object of the game was to see how many giant Dorito Chips you could get in a jar of the new Doritos Dip, with three out of four Chips in the Dip earning you an Esteban Ortega Dip Desperado t-shirt.
Emily managed the feat and won a t-shirt. I failed to get any Chips in the Dip.
It looks absolutely great fun, and I can't wait to make my I.W.P.A. Debut! Hopefully with my vast experience in Crazy Golf, and my Ranking of '50th in the world at WSPong Ping Pong' I'll do alright (or better).
It looks like it'd be great fun, and as a fan of obscure, wierd, wonderful and strange sports I put out a tweet about the game, and had responses from some of my fellow twitterers who also wanted to play the game.
We've now, kind of unofficially, formed a Hybrid UK/USA Team - and we're open to challenges from all-comers!
The first BIG CHALLENGE is finding a 'Pitch' to play it on in the UK!
.JPG "Richard throwing a boule in a game of Pétanque at Luton Regional Sports Centre")
.jpg "Emily playing Pétanque in the Luton Community Games")
.JPG "Richard throwing a boule in a game of Pétanque")
.jpg "The Result of Game 1 of the Pétanque in the Luton Community Games")
.jpg "The Result of Game 2 of the Pétanque in the Luton Community Games")
.JPG "\"Spot the Boule\" contest")
+-+Boules+Head.jpg "Emily captured the boule mid-flight and in perfect line with my bonce!")
