The Joy of Artichoke Throwing ! ! !

Just a couple of posts down here a sign for the 2nd Annual World Championship of Artichoke Throwing was published for your edification and entertainment. Lest anyone might have thought the sign in question was merely an elaborate artichoke farce, here now at last (I know you have been waiting with great impatience) is proof to the contrary. In the tiny Brittany village of Henvic, located in the rich agricultural plains and ideal artichoke growing land just to the south of Saint Pol de Leon, artichoke throwing has become a major attraction. A colorful hand painted sign was affixed to the barriers separating the crowd of easily 100 earnest observers from the artichoke throwing ring . . .
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To help get the crowd into the proper mood for the event a trio of Brittany musicians playing traditional pipe and drum music whipped the observers into a frenzy of cheers . . .
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The green-robed artichoke elders were present to observe that all was conducted in the proper manner of artichoke atmosphere with due respect to the noble vegetable . . .
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T-shirts had been produced for the members of the staff to wear, this one saying "l'Artichaut Vole", which means "the Artichoke Flies" . . .
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There were trophies lined up which would be handed out to the winning teams, and also helmets were available to any contestants who did not wish to affront the flying artichokes without head protection, which as you will soon see, was a valid concern . . .
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A considerable stock of artichokes had been strategically placed near the throwing end of the ring, ready to become airborne . . .

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The contest was open to both male and female contestants, each team comprised of two people, one who would throw the artichokes in an underhand motion similar to pitching a softball, the second who would catch the flying artichokes in a large basket held by two straps on their back. This woman demonstrates excellent artichoke tossing form here, with the throwing arm artfully raised toward the sky, having just released a green orb, her right leg extended back for counter-balance. Her partner at the far end of the pitch is already reacting to position the basket on her back at just the right position to receive the artichoke on the downward end of its trajectory . . .

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The goal of the contest is to throw the largest number possible of artichokes into the receiving basket in the space of one minute. Each team has two one-minute periods in which to produce their best result, and the team members may trade roles for each of the minute-long artichoke pitching sessions, the pitcher may become the receiver and vice versa, if they so chose, as this team did. It is clearly quite a remarkably difficult enterprise to keep a steady flow of flying artichokes in the air while not overwhelming the catcher, or forcing the catcher to run too far or perform too many artichoke catching contorsions. The thrower must stay within a small area defined by orange marks on the grass, and the catcher must stay beyond an orange line on the far end of the ring. I could tell it was no mean feat to succeed in this grueling vegetable throwing competition. I suspect I may need to practice quite a bit before thinking seriously about signing up for next year's event, the 3rd annual world chamionship . . .

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This pair of gentlemen were the winners from last year's first annual championship. During this first minute of their session they succeeded in tossing no less than thirty artichokes into the basket. Imagine that ! That is one artichoke in the basket over 30 feet away every two seconds ! Last year they won the event with a score of 34 artichokes in the basket in one minute. They worked together in extreme precision, if you look carefully at the photo you can see that there are two artichokes in the air simultaneously, and the thrower is already preparing to toss a third. He was quick as greased lightning in picking up a handful of artichokes from the bin at his side, and tossing them with a liquid motion that clearly was the result of many long hours of artichoke throwing practice; he made his receiver's job easier by tossing nearly every artichoke along the same smooth trajectory at the end of which they descended gently into the basket. He was a true artichoke throwing artist . . .
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If the artichokes were thrown too low, the catcher would be forced to stoop to catch them, no easy task with such a large basket on one's back, producing grimaces of effort exerted. The artichoke here is a green blur just about to sail into the receptacle . . .

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This young lady was clearly enjoying every successful catch, but as you can see from the artichokes on the ground behind her, they were not all ending up in the basket like this one was going to . . .

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The contestant shown here made several exciting leaping catches with outspread arms to save an artichoke thrown a bit too far. I also saw him receive one of the heavy vegetables directly on the top of his head, which must have smarted, as he had decided against donning a helmet . . .

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