ABOUT The World Stone Skimming Championships

2007 winners and runners-up

 

The World Stone Skimming Championships were started in 1983 by Albert Baker, and then lay fallow until they were resurrected in 1997 by the Eilean Eisdeal (Easdale Island Trust) as a fundraising event. Contestants hail from around the world and the championships now attract over 200 participants and many spectators. Anyone of any age and any level of skill can enter the championships.

Official Rules of the World Stone Skimming Championships are:

• Skimming stones must be no more than 3" in diameter and formed naturally of Easdale slate
• To qualify, the stone must bounce no less than 3 times and stay within the designated lane as marked by the buoys
• Skims are judged on the distance thrown rather than the number of bounces
• The judges' decision is final 

Categories and entrance fees:
Adult Women and Men (16 and over) - entrance fee: £4
Junior Girls and Boys (age 10-15 years) - entrance fee: £2
Under 10s Girls and Boys - entrance fee: £1

The World Stone Skimming Cup is presented to the over-all winner, but there are also trophies for the best junior skim and the best women's (the Sea-fari Salver), with slate medals going to 2nd and 3rd runner-up in each category. 2002 saw the launch of a new award, 'the Bertie', named after the event's founder, presented to the Easdale Islander who skims the furthest.

Winners and Runners-up  in the World Stone Skimming Championships 2007: Men:     131 Entrants 1st Dougie Isaacs Scotland back wall, (est. 63m) 2nd equal Kim Beadle Britain 58m 2nd equal Gareth Forrester Ireland 58m 3rd Andrew MacKinna Scotland 56m Women:     49 Entrants 1st Carike Barnardo South Africa 29m 2nd Mignonne Khazaka Scotland 26m 3rd Sandra Melville Scotland (Easdale) 23m Junior boys (10-15 incl):     23 Entrants 1st - *Bertie* Allan Laycock Scotland (Easdale) 43m 2nd Sam Buckland Britain 41m 3rd equal Zak Mahoney Scotland 34m 3rd equal Duncan Cox England 34m Junior girls (10-15 incl):     7 Entrants 1st Laura MacKay Scotland 21m 2nd Megan Gunter Scotland 18m 3rd equal Poppy Lironi Scotland 14m 3rd equal Eleanor Moffat England 14m Under 10 boys:     12 Entrants 1st Jack Salter Scotland 24m 2nd Nicholas Simpson Scotland 19m 3rd equal Daniel Roll Scotland 14m 3rd equal Saul Marnoch Scotland 14m Under 10 girls:     7 Entrants 1st Zoe Mahoney Scotland 7m 2nd (Zoe was the only contender to achieve a valid throw this year)     3rd

The 229 competitors in this year's competition represented 11 different countries: Australia; Canada; Denmark; England; Germany; Holland; Ireland; Scotland; South Arfica; USA; Wales.

Over-all Champions since 1997:   2007 Dougie Isaacs Scotland back wall (est. 63m) 2006 Tony Kynn Australia back wall 2005 Dougie Isaacs Scotland back wall 2004 Andrew McKinna Scotland 47m 2003 Ian Brown Scotland 55m 2002 Alastair Judkins New Zealand (& Easdale) back wall 2001 Iain MacGregor  Australia 65m 2000 Scott Finnie Scotland 54m 1999 Ian Shellcock England 50m 1998 Ian Shellcock England 53m 1997 Ian Sherriff New Zealand 55m

Press interest in the the World Stone Skimming Championships is increasing every year, and the event has been covered by the following: Oban Times, The Independent, The Scotsman, The Times & The Sunday Times, The Glasgow Herald, The Daily Record, The Daily Mail, The Sun and The Drogheda Independent. Features have also appeared on Radio Scotland, Radio 5 Live, Gaelic Television news, Scottish Television, BBC Scotland television, CBBC Newsround and Channel 4 Big Breakfast.

Scotland on TV produced a video about the 2007 World Stone Skimming Championships which you can view from their website. Watch the video.

If you can't make it to Easdale for the World Stone Skimming Championships how about trying the Wales Open Stone Skimming Championships (www.skimwales.com), the first of which took place in August 2007 on the Castle Pond in Pembroke, Pembrokeshire.

The rules are in accordance with the World Stone Skimming Championships (see above) and anyone of any age and any level of skill can enter. Teams of 3 people can also enter and each person's best skim will also count towards the individual event.