Related: Video primer of competitive boomerang throwing
If you happen to be around Lake Stevens Community Park this weekend, don’t be surprised if you see a multitude of flying objects spinning through the air.
And if any of those objects appears headed your direction, worry not. They’ll be veering off to return to the point from where they were launched soon enough.
The 2018 US Boomerang National Championships are taking place in Lake Stevens this weekend, and it provides an opportunity to highlight how this area has become one of the world capitols for competitive throwing of the ancient Australian hunting device, which is curved in a manner that when thrown it returns to the thrower.
“It’s an interesting crop of competitors this year,” said Edmonds resident James Stickney, the tournament organizer and one of the entrants. “There will be U.S. team members here, as well as a group of young throwers who are getting a feel for coming out and competing at nationals. The winners of the last 13 national championships will be here, along with every member of the current U.S. World Championships team, so there will be a lot of talented throwers.”
About 30 of the nation’s best boomerang throwers are expected to take part. Competition begins at 9 a.m. Saturday and is expected to last until about 4 p.m. Then Sunday will feature a practice session by the U.S. national team, followed by sessions for learning how to throw a boomerang. All sessions are free and open to the public.
So how does a boomerang competition work? Nationals is broken down into six events:
— Accuracy: The boomerang is thrown from a bullseye in the middle of concentric rings on the ground, and points are scored based on how close the boomerang lands to the spot where it was thrown. This consists of 10 throws with a maximum score of 100.
— Trick catch: Competitors must execute 10 preassigned trick catches, including behind the back, between the legs and kicking the boomerang to oneself hacky-sack style. Some of these are then done with two boomerangs thrown simultaneously.
— Fast catch: Five throws and catches in the fastest possible time.
— Endurance: The most number of throws and catches in a five-minute period.
— Maximum time aloft: Longest time in the air before the boomerang is caught. The world record is 2 minutes, 13 seconds, and Stickney has the second-best time of 2:09.
— Australian round: An event that combines distance, accuracy and catching.
These events are done decathlon style, with each competitor participating in all six events and receiving a score. The competitor with the highest overall score at the end will be crowned national champion.
The competitors won’t necessarily be using the traditional two-pronged wooden boomerangs. Instead they’ll be using two-, three- and four-pronged boomerangs made from composite fibers, depending on the event and the conditions. Stickney said he typically brings 50-60 boomerangs to a competition, will warm up with around 25, then end up using eight to 10 in competition.
“One of the interesting parts of boomerang is that it’s not solely based on athletics,” Stickney explained. “I happen to be a good athlete, but it also takes a lot of thought to understand the aerodynamics and the wind conditions, then pick and modify based on the conditions.”
The national title has largely been hoarded by competitors from the Northwest the past decade. Stickney was the national champion in 2015. Daniel Bower, who also resides in Edmonds, is the defending national champion and has finished first three times. Richard Bower, Daniel’s twin brother who lives in Shoreline, is a four-time national champ. All three were members of Team USA when it won the team competition at the 2016 World Boomerang Championships in Kiel, Germany.
“We have a good group in the area,” said Stickney, who mentioned that the Northwest’s constantly changing wind patterns make this region good for producing quality boomerang throwers. “We have a group of about 10 throwers who try to practice weekly at Magnuson Park (in Seattle), and five of the six members from the team that won the World Championships in 2016 in Kiel were from the Seattle area.”
The Bower twins and Stickney are among the favorites, along with fellow national team member Logan Broadbent out of Cleveland, Ohio.
This year’s nationals are not a qualifier for worlds. The 2017 nationals served as the qualifier for 2018 World Boomerang Championships, which take place July 21-29 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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