The Yorkton Horseshoe Club hosted a provincial sanctioned tournament at its facility at the Ukrainian Pioneers park Saturday.
Tournament coordinator Denise Squires says 26 competitors were on hand to pitch horseshoes. Participants came from Saskatoon, Whitewood, Yorkton, and Grandville, Manitoba, Squires reports.
The annual event featured men's, women's and junior competition.
Competitors in the A class threw 50 horseshoes while everyone else threw 40 shoes in each game. As well, top players threw a 40 foot distance while others threw 30 feet.
In a game, scoring depends on the position of the horseshoe in relation to the peg. A shoe that surrounds the peg, known as a ringer, scores three points. Any shoe close to the peg, including one that is leaning against the peg each counts one point, Squires explains. In a 50 shoe game, the most any player could score with all ringers would be 300 points while a 40 shoe game could potentially have a 240 points score, she adds.
Yorkton Horseshoe Club president Enid Mroske, currently 84 years of age, has been pitching horseshoe since the 1980s. Mroske says she has always enjoyed participating in sports. "It's (horseshoes) is the only one I can play anymore because of my arthritis. I enjoy it because it's challenging to make ringers. It's not easy," she comments.
The Yorkton club has seen declining membership to the point where Mroske admits, "We're not very big in numbers anymore."
The club is trying to attract new members but it's not easy. "We had eight register at the spring registration but only one has shown up," she reports.
Anyone who might be interested in learning more about the sport or would like to try pitching horseshoes, should call Enid at 782-7355 or Don Low at 783-3895.
Current defending provincial champ, Colin Finnie who is a former national title holder and is seeded number two in the country this year took part in the Yorkton tournament.
Finnie, who estimates he has been involved in the sport for some 30 years, started as a youngster, joining his parents in the game.
He says practice is the key to doing well at the sport. There is no particular throwing technique that ensures success. "Everybody throws differently," Finnie states. His throw usually has the shoe spinning a turn and a quarter as it flies toward the peg.
Finnie's highest percentage in a game was 92.5 per cent, he reports. That would mean that out of 50 shoes in a game, he would score an average of 46 ringers.
Finnie, who plans to continue pitching horseshoes as long as he can, is aiming for the national championship again this year in August just north of Montreal.
