The Winnemucca Events Complex was converted into a 16 court/32 pit world tournament style horseshoe stadium last weekend to host local and professional pitchers.
The National Horseshoe Pitching Association (NHPA) sponsored the event on Sunday, while the Saturday event was open and non-sanctioned.
For just a $10 entry fee, pitchers got a chance to win hundreds of dollars competing against others.
The object of the sport is to get “ringers”, tossing your shoe around the peg to score three points.
If no ringer is hit on the round, a single point is awarded to the player whose shoe is closest to the peg.
The origin of this sport goes back to the days of the Roman Empire. Roman soldiers pitched horseshoes discarded from the horses used to drive their chariots.
“This is our second year having this indoor horseshoe tournament in Winnemucca,” said Kim Peterson, the Director of the Winnemucca Convention Business Authority (WCBA). “Saturday is open to anyone. Sunday and next weekend are sanctioned tournaments so you have to be a member of the NHPA to play in those.” The cost of a NHPA card is $35/year.
Senior World Champion Barbara Taylor from York, South Carolina was in attendance at the tournament.
“I beat the six-time reigning world champion en route to my victory this year,” she said. “I have been pitching for about 30 years, I started in the backyard. Now I travel all over the U.S. to play.”
Horseshoes has been introduced in South Africa, Italy, Japan, Grand Bahamas Islands, Togo, West Africa, Australia, New Zealand, West Germany Nigeria, Honduras, Canada, South America, Israel, Norway, Switzerland, Poland Philippine Islands, England, Sweden, Finland and Russia.
“Horseshoes offers a fun competition and the camaraderie is wonderful," Peterson said. "You don’t find horseshoe pitchers with bad attitudes anywhere.”
He concluded, “I’m very fortunate that the WCBA is willing to take a chance on these types of events. They keep an open mind about bringing people to our town.”
The National Horseshoe Tour comes to the Events Complex next weekend on Saturday and Sunday. There will be $6,500 added to the entry fees collected that will be distributed as prize money.
Additional information can be found at Thehorseshoetour.com or Horseshoepitching.com.
