Big Throwers Meeting / World Championship and European Championship in Knife Throwing and Axe Throwing

promoted by Knifethrowing.info and Axtwerfen.de and Eurothrowers.org
 

To promote the exchange between axe- and knife throwers, already in 2001 the European Throwing Club Flying Blades (EuroThrowers) has started the "Big Throwers Meeting / European Championship". This event has since been established as the both the central annual competition and relaxed and friendly meet up for throwers from all over the world, and is assigned to a different country each year.

Every couple of years, the event is designated as World Championship, and organised on a very big scale. For example in the World Championship in Callac, France, 2014, there were throwers from 12 nations competing, with teams from countries as diverse as Italy, Russia, Switzerland or the Czech Republic.

To understand why the Big Throwers Meeting / World and European Championship is really the most important event for knife throwers and axe throwers each year, just read the reports about the last years' events.

In 2016, the World Championship was held in Maniago, Italy, and we met in Alsómocsolád, Hungary for the 2017 European Championship.

Have a look at our calendar of important knife thrower meetings worldwide.

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The EuroThrowers World Championship 2018 will be organised by the WAC in conjunction with W-Club. It takes place in the WildWest park "Kemp Indiana" in Rymarov in the east of the Czech Republic.

As usual, the most important goal is to get together knife and axe throwers from all over the World for some days of throwing in a relaxed atmosphere. Meeting old friends and finding new ones, learning some new throwing tricks. Having fun with wacky targets and throwing games. And, of course, we'll have a competition: The World Championship!

Be sure to bring friends and family to enjoy the Wild West feeling in Camp Indiana. Afterwards, stay in the Moravia region for the great landscape, or the architecture in Olomouc. On the way back home, do opt for a stay in Prague or Vienna.

Location

The competition will take place at:

Registration

Registration is mandatory, and is open until the 31st of May 2018, at:

Registration World Championship 2018

Organisers

The World Championship in Knife and Axe Throwing (EuroThrowers) 2018 is organised and held by the Western Arts Club (Gin Šín), in partnership with W-Club (Dusan Dvořák).

Contact: Martin Heczko, info@stampky.cz, Phone: +420 554 254 984

Agenda

The competitions run from Thursday to Saturday. That is one day earlier than EuroThrowers are used to from previous years, but the organisers wanted everybody to have Sunday to travel home. However, the local organisers have agreed that it will be possible to arrive (and complete the online-registration locally) Thursday evening, and still participate in the World Championship events. (If you'll be arriving on Thursday, please signal this to the organisers.)

Wednesday 1st
	18:00-22:00	Registration
Thursday
	Full day	Speed Silhouette Knife Silhouette Axe Western Axe
Friday
	Full day	Precision events Knife: 3m, 5m, 7m Precision events Axe: 4m, 5m, 7m No-Spin Time qualification for the Duel Cup Finals of the experimental events: Speed, Silhouette Knife, Silhouette Axe, Western Axe
Saturday
	Full day	World Championship Precision Throwing Knife and Axe (Walkback) Long Distance Knife and Axe Duomix Women & Men Duel-Cup final for 16 fastest Grand Prix Indiana Whip Grand Prix Indiana Western Show
Sunday
	Full day	Travelling home

The organiser reserves the right to adapt the program in the course of the championship.

Practical Information

In the Czech Republic, you can only pay in Czech Koruna (CZK), so be sure to get some cash from the ATM on your way there. 100 CZK are about 4€.

Should you need to pay your EuroThrowers membership fee for 2018, please bring 10€ in cash.

The phone dial prefix for the Czech Republic is +420

You will we able to buy food and drinks directly on site.

How to get there

When travelling to the Czech Republic, make sure you do not do so via Switzerland. In Switzerland, throwing knives as such are illegal, and you will face serious persecution and be fined several thousand Euros/Dollars if they are found in your luggage.

• By car: The competition area is in the western part of the town of Rymarov, just off the road Opavska (11). Use the geo coordinates or map links above. Drive times: 3 ½ hours from Prague as well from Vienna.
• By plane: The nearest airports are Wroclaw (Poland), Vienna (Austria), and Prague (Czech Republic). Direct flights, for example Paris to Prague to Paris cost about 150€.
• By public transport: Rymarov train station is in the east of the city. For the 3km to the competition area, do use a taxi, or arrange beforehand with the organiser to have you picked up a the train station. Example train times: From Vienna, it takes 6 hours, with changes in Ostravaand Valsov.
• Taxi:
  • Taxy Rymarov: +420 777 656 656
  • teamTaxi: +420 588880512, Mobile +420 774675676

Accommodation

Each participant is responsible for booking his own accommodation.

Directly on site, it is possible to stay in the WildWest Guesthouse or to bring a tent and stay in the tent camp.

Upon registering for the Championship, information will be provided concerning available places, and alternative accomodation.

If you are prepared to drive 20-30 kilometres to your hotel, you can expect to pay around 35€ per night.

The law

There are no special laws in the Czech Republic concerning throwing knives. However, to help explain why you transport all those knives, it is always a good idea to carry a printout of the Championship invitation (that is, this page) with you, and your EuroThrowers membership-card (if available).

It has never been a problem to transport throwing knives on the plane in a checked-in suitcase. A printout of the championship invitation on top of the knives helps customs officers quickly decide you have a harmless reason for transporting those throwing knives.

In you travel, you might cross countries with special rules on knives and axes:

• Germany, Italy: Do transport all of your knives in a bag or container that is locked with a padlock. It is heavily recommended not to transport those objects: Butterfly knives, throwing stars, flick / switchblade knives, and any knife whose blade is sharpened on both sides.
• Switzerland: Do not touch Switzerland! Here, throwing knives as such are illegal, and you will face serious persecution if they are found in your luggage. (One visitor to the last Championship got his knives confiscated at the Swiss border, and on top he got a heavy fine.)
• Austria: No limitations known.

Remember to check the law for additional countries you cross.

Rules

We will employ the European Knife and Axe Throwing Rules (version 2010, available in 7 languages).

For each event, the thrower has to show up with three throwing tools (knives/axes). Exceptions only for throwing tools damaged during the meeting.

If ties need to be resolved, the following additional ranking factor will be used: The number of times a participant scored a 5-point stick (further using 4-3-2 sticks if necessary).

We will have the following standard events:

• Knife 3m, 5m, 7m
• Axe 4m, 7m
• Knife and Axe: Long distance

• Experimental: Axe 5m "Handle Up" (Only for this single-distance event, it is mandated that the axe must be sticking with its handle pointing upward.)

Combined Rankings

For the precision events, there will be four combined virtual rankings: For women, men, knives and axes separately. Knives combine the 3m, 5m and 7m events, axes combine the 4m, 5m and 7m events.

The points achieved in each event will first be normalised, and then summed up. Normalisation here means that in each event, the best thrower will receive 100 normalised points. This ensures that a point in a more demanding event (like 7m knives) also carries more weight in the combined ranking.

The combined precision rankings are the basis for qualification for the event World Championship Precision (Walkback), Doumix, and the ranking of countries. There are no other rankings that combine several events.

Ranking of Countries

The three countries with the best throwers will be recognised (there are separate rankings for men and women).

The country rankings will be based on the normalised cumulative precision scores of the top throwers of each country (men: 5 best throwers; women: 4 best throwers). The score is thus based on the results of the six knife and axe precision events. Countries with less than 5/4 participants who have thrown the full six precision events will not be included in the respective ranking.

World Championship Long Distance

Titles to win in the long distance event: World Champion in Long Distance Knife/Axe Throwing

World Championship Precision

For the title of World Champion in Knife/Axe Precision Throwing, we will use the walk-back-mode.

Only the 20% best throwers from the standard precision events (including axe 5m) are qualified for this event. Minimal number of participants per title: men 20, women 5.

The event will be held at the following marked distances: Knife 3, 4, 5, 6, 7m, axe 4, 5, 7, 8, 10m.

The thrower will throw at 4 target groups (we say he makes 4 "runs"). At each target group (consisting of three targets), he will throw one round of three throws per distance mark - starting behind the closest distance mark and moving back behind the next distance mark after completing the previous round. He will thus throw at all distance marks in one run. The number of throws in one run at a target group is thus: 5 distances x 3 throws per round = 15 throws.
The thrower does not have to stand at the distance mark, but can move back a maximum of 100cm minus the length of his foot.

Experimental events

Duel Cup

As usual, the Duel-Cup will also be held. Pairwise throwing, the participant who hits the target faster after the signal goes on to the next round. An electronic system will determine which thrower sticks it first!

The standard Duel-Cup rules will be employed.

This year, we will have a qualification round using Time-preselection. The final will see the 16 fastest throwers competing.

The following rules will ensure a smooth proceeding of this year's Duel-Cup:

• It is your responsibility to find your duel partner, and come to the duel together - think of it as finding a new friend, and compete with her.
• The organiser can make a final call for a duel pairing. A participant not showing up 10 minutes after this final call is automatically disqualified. The final call can also be requested by a duel participant not being able to locate his partner despite own search efforts. For throwers whose partner is disqualified in the preselection round, a partner will be provided to obtain a time ranking.

No-Spin

You throw your knife from the handle, with no spin, in walk-back mode.

Detailed No-Spin rules: PDF / OpenOffice

Duomix

In this event, you get paired together with a thrower of the opposite sex to form a team, based on the ranking in precision throwing axe plus knife: Female 30th place & male 1st place, female 29th place & male 2nd place, and so on.

 

If there are less than 30 female or male participants in this event, the total number of pairs will be lowered accordingly.

Participation only for competitions whose normalised scores knife plus axe sum up to at least 1.5.

One in the team will throw with knives, the other with axes - it's your choice who throws what.

The minimum distance is 5m, you each have 21 throws.

 

The team which accumulates the highest number of points wins.

Speed

Put as many knives in the target as you can in 20 seconds. Minimum distance 3m. Minimum weight 200g.

Detailed Speed rules: PDF / OpenOffice

Silhouette Knife

Knife throwing into targets that are grouped around a silhouette. Hits inside the silhouette will cost you a penalty of minus 10 points. Distance minimum 3m.

Detailed Silhouette Knife rules: PDF / OpenOffice

Silhouette Axe

Throwing your axe into target-circles that are grouped around two big circles (the silhouette). Hits inside the silhouette will cost you a penalty of minus 10 points. Minimum distance 4m.

Detailed Silhouette Axe rules: PDF / OpenOffice

Western Axe

Axe throwing from 4m. You are sitting behind a table.

Grand Prix Indiana Whip

The Grand Prix requires to demonstrate a wide field of skills in whip handling, ranging from precision hits to a Zorro contest. Bring your own whip!

Detailed Indiana Whip rules

Grand Prix Indiana Western Show

You have 10 minutes to stage a western show - any combination of lasso, whip, knife, ax, revolver, bow and dance. Alone, with a partner, or even engaging the audience. Judges will select the best one, based on style and technique, costume, music, contact with viewers, and the quality of the performance.
Video of the 2015 competition

Detailed Indiana Western Show rules