There are some wacky sports happening around the world these days, and there was something distinctly fishy about a competition that was held during the Tunarama Festival in Port Lincoln, a coastal town in South Australia.
Every year, the highlight of the three-day gala is its Tuna Toss Competition, which according to the festival’s website, allows “people from all over the world ‘have a go’ at tossing a Tuna for their chance to win the World Championship and a slice of $3,000 cash.”
The 17.637-pound blue fin tunas were supplied by local fish manufacturers and all who were willing to have a go, had a go.
The winner of the ladies’ competition tossed her tuna 12.25 meters, while the men’s champ, Tim Driesen, who is an Australian national record holder at the hammer throw and a bona fide athlete, flicked his fish 30.26 meters back into the sea.
Driesen attributed his success to the form he has practiced as a hammer thrower. ”It’s the same sort of technique, but it’s a lot different, the weight is different, the length is different, how it’s weighted is different, with a hammer it’s all at the end of a wire,” he said, according the the Canberra Times.
Just in case you think all the fun is for the big kids, children from 5-10 can take part in a prawn tossing competition so that tuna tossing champions of the future can be molded.
