Fourteenth Century Style Jousting at the Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament 2015

During the weekend of February 21 - 22, the 8th Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament will take place in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The tournament, which is organized and hosted by Callum Forbes and the Order of the Boar,  was first held in 2003 and has grown bigger and better with each iteration. Currently, the tournament is held every other year, and the most recent Harcourt Park joust, which was held in 2013, was won by Canadian jouster Dale Gienow.

Dale Gienow(left) jousts Simon Tennant during Harcourt Park 2013 (photo by ATPhoto)

This year's tournament will feature the usual jousting competition for the Grail of Chivalry, which includes Mounted Skill at Arms(MSA) and Mounted Melee competitions in addition to the actual Jousting. Other old favorites will also be part of the overall event, including a Medieval Battle Display and an individual Medieval Martial Arts competition involving dagger, sword & small shield, and longsword. Due to its successful launch during Harcourt Park 2013, there will again be a Junior Sword Fighting competition featuring the Order of the Boar's Knight School students in association with the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy.

Harcourt Park Jousting Tournament tv ad (video by Callum Forbes)

However, this year's Harcourt Park Tournament will differ from previous events in several ways: For the first time, professional medieval harpists Wryd Medieval Music from Australia will be providing music for the event. The popular Medieval Archery Competitions and Displays will now have their own dedicated archery range where even more archery events will be held, including 'have a go' public participation. And Armoured Foot Combat, which has been a popular display in the past, will now be an actual competition as Harcourt Park hosts the inaugural Pacific Cup which features full contact armoured combat.

One of the most dramatic changes from previous Harcourt Park tournaments is that the joust will now be done in strict 14th century style.

Jouster Rod Walker of Australia jousts against the quintain in his new 14th century armour
(photo by Michelle Walker)

According to tournament organizer Callum Forbes:

"All the jousters will be wearing only 14th century armour and costume for this event. Previously this event, like many others, was open to the wider medieval period (e.g. late 13th century through to the 16th century). This created an anachronism, as historically this never happened, but, in the interests of being inclusive to all, I decided to allow this.

"However, in recent years we have seen the development of period specific events (e.g. mostly 15th Century ‘historical jousts’), and there are now enough of these events worldwide to cater for people who do later period jousting. So, I feel the time is now right to limit my own events to an earlier period. For this year’s jousting, only armour and costume that was used from the period 1350 to 1400 is allowed in the joust.

"Note, this is for the joust only. Other foot and equestrian based events still allow the wider range of armour and costume to be worn." – Callum Forbes

Callum Forbes is not only a tournament organizer, he is also a competitive jouster. However, he does not compete in the Harcourt Park joust for a couple of reasons. First, because it is highly impractical for overseas jousters to bring their own horses, he generously loans his jousting horses to be ridden by the visiting jousters.  And second, he is simply too busy running the tournament each year to be able to compete as well.

Callum Forbes (photo by Stacey Baker)

When asked what led him to focus on the 14th century style of jousting for Harcourt Park 2015, Callum responded:

"I have always loved the 14th century and have always wanted to run my events as 14th century ones, and now is the right time to narrow our event’s focus. There are a lot of very good jousters out there who joust exclusively in 14th century armour and costume who are now excluded from many events which were previously ‘open’ but are now limited to 15th or 16th century armours. I wanted to balance the scales a bit and give the 14th century guys and girls a place of their own to play.

"All the big events that I run in New Zealand from now on will be 14th Century ones, and my goal is to make New Zealand the home of the 14th Century joust!" – Callum Forbes

Jousters from around the world have either dusted off or created new sets of 14th century style armour and clothing in order to compete in this year's Harcourt Park joust. Jouster and armourer Rod Walker of Full Tilt, also known from the tv show Full Metal Jousting, has done a great job of creating photo documentation (with commentary alongside certain photographs) of his process of research and development for his new 14th Century kit. A couple of photographs of the finished armour and accessories are shown below.  To see the complete set of photographs and commentary, check out Rod's "14thC Harness and Clothing" photo album.

Rod Walker displays his new 14th century armour and accoutrements both standing and mounted (photos by Michelle Walker)

In addition to Rod Walker(who has competed in all but one Harcourt Park Tournament), other jousters who will be competing this year are:

• Gunnar Cederberg from Sweden, who will be competing at Harcourt Park for the first time
• Anders Fernstedt from Sweden, who will be competing at Harcourt Park for the FIFTH time
• Sarah Hay from Australia
• John King of New Zealand
• Andrew McKinnon from Australia
• Vikki Subritzky of New Zealand
• L Dale Walter from the USA, who will be competing at Harcourt Park for the first time

However, one person that Callum was hoping would someday joust in one of his tournaments will not be there. This year's Grail of Chivalry joust will be dedicated to the memory of Callum's friend, Paul Kirk.

"Paul Kirk was one of the major players in the New Zealand medieval re-enactment scene from the mid 90’s, and he trained with Order of the Boar for a number of years in the mid 2000’s with the intention of becoming a jouster. Unfortunately, a change in employment circumstances forced him to relocate elsewhere in New Zealand. However, before this happened he was able to compete in the mounted skill-at arms at Harcourt Park 2005.

"In the year prior to his death, he was travelling regularly four hours a weekend to train with the Order of the Boar’s foot combat team that studies Western Martial Arts – particularly Fiore. He was planning to resume his joust training with us as well, with the intention to joust at our next big international event in early 2016.

"Paul was a larger than life character whose purpose in life was to help others. He was also involved with martial arts, motor bikes and the Church. He was a highly fit individual who was struck down by a sudden brain aneurysm that killed him instantly. He was 41 years old, with two young daughters, a step-son and a fiancé. After his death, his help for others continued as he was also an organ donor. This enabled medical staff to save three lives using body parts donated by Paul." -- Callum Forbes

Paul Kirk (photo provided by Callum Forbes)

The Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament will be held February 21 - 22 in Harcourt Park off of Akatarawa Road, Upper Hutt, New Zealand 5018 (See map). For more information, check out the Order of the Boar website and the tournament's Facebook page. Buying your tickets in advance through Event Finder is recommended since it is faster and cheaper than buying your tickets at the gate.

Related articles:
Canadian Dale Gienow Wins New Zealand's “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament”

Testing Spiral Cut Pine Lance Tips for the Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament 2015

A New Kind of Frangible Lance Tip: Spiral Cut Pine Tips

Informative Video of the 2013 "Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Video from "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Testing Spiral Cut Pine Lance Tips for the Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament 2015

Part of the preparation for any tournament using frangible lances (i.e. lances that have a re-usable base and a tip that is designed to break upon sufficient impact then be replaced easily) is making sure that you have the proper strength tips for what you want to do. Here is video of several members of the Order of the Boar jousting troupe testing several different strengths of spiral cut pine tips to decide which will be used at the Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament 2015.

Preparing for Harcourt Park January 2015 (video by Callum Forbes)

The spiraling is cut deeper on some tips and not as deep on others creating tips that require weaker or stronger impacts in order to break. To learn more about spiral cut lance tips, click on the link to read the article written about them by Callum Forbes, the producer of the Harcourt Park Tournament.

Andrew McKinnon from Australia takes a hit at Harcourt Park 2013 showing the spiral cut pine tip fragmentation in action (photo by Andrew Turner/ATPhoto)

Callum Forbes, who is also the leader of the Order of the Boar, describes what is happening in the video:

"Testing the pine lance tips yesterday for the Harcourt Park 2015 World Invitational Jousting Tournament. The shock quintain gives great feedback and the strong tips were the best in terms of perceived impact. Unfortunately the best hit of the test – Monty and I using a strong tip – wasn't recorded, but I think the both the public and the jousters will be happy with these tips. They will break much harder in the joust as the impact force will at least be doubled because of the added force of the incoming horse and rider. 

It is always a tricky balance. The public wants to see big breaks.... Jousters want to feel the hits. I want to get the sweet spot that gives big breaks and satisfies the jousters. So these pine tips are the best of both worlds so far." – Callum Forbes

You can find more information about the joust on the Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament 2015 Facebook page or the page for the tournament on the Order of the Boar website. Tickets for the tournament are already for sale online through Event Finder.

Related articles:
A New Kind of Frangible Lance Tip: Spiral Cut Pine Tips

Canadian Dale Gienow Wins New Zealand's “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament”

Informative Video of the 2013 "Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Video from "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Favorite Moments from 2010: The Accidental International Jouster's Tale

Favorite moments from 2010?? Wasn't this series about sharing Favorite Moments From 2014? Apparently some people don't follow directions very well, but when they go astray this brilliantly, who can object to taking a detour? Here is Australian jouster Andrew McKinnon's favorite memory from the year 2010:

THE ACCIDENTAL INTERNATIONAL JOUSTER’S TALE

written by Andrew McKinnon

In the hot summer of January 2010, I was excited to be packing for the flight from Sydney to New Zealand for the Taupo International Joust Tournament. I was new to jousting, and my job was as team squire, with an opportunity to ride in the mounted skill at arms. I was going to be able to catch up with some new Kiwi pals I had met in the few years before, when I was a wide eyed squire watching these very cool dudes smashing it up together in the lists. I had been training with my sensei Rod Walker for a couple of years and finally felt ready for a bit of melée and the opportunity to murder some fruit with a sword.

Andrew McKinnon(right) breaks his first lance against his instructor Rod Walker(left),
Joust training, Father's Day 2009 (photo by Garry Davenport)

On this trip, I was looking forward to catching up with Callum Forbes, Graham Nixon – whom I had crossed lances with in jousts in Australia previously – and finally meeting this curmudgeonly wrinkled, silvery haired, opinionated, Scots Kiwi, formally known as Jeremy ‘Jezz’ Smith, with whom I had established we shared a mutual love of history, jousting and general piss-taking and tomfoolery washed down with a taste of something slightly alcoholic. Jezz was always very encouraging and gave me lots of tips and motivational gems, interspersed with liberal doses of profanity.

One of the real moments in my jousting career was Jezz, prior to my departure, saying whatever happens, pack your harness, and whilst you are here, I will take you out into a park, and we will have a joust. I was gratified I would finally get to break a lance outside training!

My excitement level was high as we hit the deck at Auckland, passed through customs and jumped in the minibus to drive to Lake Taupo. There were several ratbags of the highest order for company. Justin Holland, the nominal captain of the team, a man of few words and a capacity for libations unsurpassed in another jouster. Amongst the other fine fellows and lassies was Sir Phillip Oliver, whose schtick was to wrap himself in a bright yellow tarpaulin, don an eyepatch and attempt to convince the general populace that the rubber chicken he had gaffe taped to his yellow cape was in fact a falcon named “Allan”. This is in itself worthy of it’s own tale, but that shall have to wait until another time. Suffice to say the hills of Lake Taupo still ring to the sounds of Sir Phillip yelling “Allaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan” triggering the locals to duck down suddenly for fear of being struck by the diving raptor.

Anyway, pray, let us continue the tale. The Australian Team arrived at our accommodation, which we immediately festooned with appropriately cheap plastic Australiana items. We were wild and free and damn! we weren't backward in sharing our festive and rather theatrical fervour. Again Sir Phillip was the instigator of much mirth and diabolical merriment. His antics in the celebrity hot tub with his wily moustache and a gold lamé g-string are again, the stuff of legend.

We mustered on the first day and went through the plans for the tournament, including matching riders with horses, session times, program, etc, etc.... Heady stuff, and the whole time I think my grin was at about the ‘epic’ setting.

At some point, Callum came up to me and said, “Listen, we are a rider short, Andrew. What do you think about harnessing up and being a target, so one of the others doesn't have to ride twice?”

I was thrilled. “Absolutely!” was my reply. How good is this? I thought to myself, being in armour and riding in a real tournament!

Andrew McKinnon in armour with Kym Louise O'Connor at Taupo 2010
(photo by Scott Marks)

Shortly after that Callum approached me and said, “Hey Andrew, Why don’t you at least present a lance for the crowd, so it looks fair dinkum?” I thought, man at least it will look real in the pics. Riding with a lance and getting hit in an international tournament! Awesome….

Andrew McKinnon cantering down the tilt with a lance at the Taupo Joust 2010
(photo by Donna Burt)

At this point Callum interrupts my triumphant reverie with, “Hey Andrew, why don’t you just hit them?”

So there I was, parachuted into my first international tournament. One of the most memorable and satisfying moments of my jousting career even still. The best part was I wasn't nervous, because I had no anticipation of the event. Bang! There I was. Jousting. My first pass was with Jezz, and I broke my first tournament lance on him.

Jezz Smith(left) jousts Andrew McKinnon(right) at the Taupo joust 2010
(photo by Scott Marks)

As I rode off, I heard Graham Nixon say, “That was very tidy man.” I think I had to get the smile on my face surgically removed after about a fortnight.

So there it is. The tale of the accidental international jouster. Our joust careers are filled with stories like these. Opportunity, skill, humour and mateship. This is what keeps me going – the people you meet and the adventures you have with them. Normal folk just wouldn't understand.

Then there was the tale of Team America, the ‘Special’ Bus and speaking Khazakh, but that tale must wait for another time…….

Andrew McKinnon at a jousting practice held on Father's Day 2009
(photo by Garry Davenport)

More tales from the Accidental International Jouster coming... maybe...

Informative Video of the 2013 "Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Callum Forbes of the Order of the Boar, the troupe that produces the "Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament" every two years, put together this informative video of the 2013 Harcourt Park jousting tournament that took place in New Zealand this past February.

(video by Callum Forbes/Order of the Boar)

A New Kind of Frangible Lance Tip: Spiral Cut Pine Tips

The following article was written by Callum Forbes of the Order of the Boar:

At the “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament” (in New Zealand), we tested new spiral cut pine tips in our lances instead of using the traditional length-wise cut balsa tips. Balsa is on a protected species list and is becoming more expensive. This adds significantly to the costs of jousting. Because of this we started looking for alternatives to balsa tips.

When I was in Belgium at "Hackaland 2011", Fred Piraux showed me a video of a tip design made of European ‘yellow pine’ which a wood-turning friend of his had suggested to him. Fred tested several prototypes which broke well on a static quintain and very kindly gave me a fragment of one as a sample to take back home. It is essentially a solid dowel with a spiral cut down most of its length with a router bit.

Pictures of Fred Piraux's spiral cut pine lance tips, intact(above) and broken(below)
(photos by Frederic Piraux)

Dave Smith, our announcer at all of our jousting events in New Zealand, built a rig to allow mass production of these tips and made several prototypes for me from pinus radiata, which is a widely used forestry timber in New Zealand. It is cheap and is also a renewable timber.

We tested two spiral cut tip designs late last year. One had a deeper cut and one a shallower cut. Both broke very well on tests against our ‘shock’ quintain, but when I had them tested with me as the target, people had trouble getting a good shattering effect with the shallower cut ones. So I commissioned Dave to make 200 of the deeper cut tips for our “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament” last February.

Tournament Tip showing the form of the spirals. We paint all of our tips in one of two colours to make judging easier and also to make the tip the same colour as the colours we use on our lances so that they are not so obvious as inserts to the public.(photo by Callum Forbes)

Because the pine tip weighs 3 – 4 times as much as a balsa equivalent and because it is more rigid, you have to hit more accurately than balsa to get them to shatter correctly. By this I mean you have to hit square on. With balsa, because it flexes a bit more then pine, you can hit at a bit of an angle and still get a good shattering effect. With pine tips, the problem is that it is easier for the lance to deflect off the target at an unpredictable angle. By encouraging people to hit more accurately (i.e., square on), this risk is mitigated to some extent.

During the actual joust, when people hit hard and accurately, we had spectacular breaks that were louder than balsa. We also got multiple fragmentation, and the fragments flew further into the air (and into the crowd!) than balsa.

Andrew McKinnon from Australia takes a hit at "Harcourt Park 2013" showing tip fragmentation in action(photo by Andrew Turner/ATPhoto)

In hindsight, the tips were cut too deeply, and although they hit harder than balsa, a few people thought they were a bit too easy. We also had a teething issue in that our timber supplier sent us dowels in 2 diameters – 30mm and 32mm – and the 30mm dowels were a little too easy to break. But when introducing something new into the joust, it pays to err on the side of caution. Regardless, everybody thought the new tips were a major step forward.

We did test some prototype shallower cut tips at the tournament in front of the public as a demonstration. They broke very well, and the riders felt the impact a lot more. So the consensus is that we use these tips at future international events like "Harcourt Park", and we plan to use them at our next big international tournament which is planned for February 2014 at another location in New Zealand.

Overall these tips were a great success as I wanted a tip that broke harder than balsa without the splintering that you get from balsa tips. Because people are cutting the balsa length-wise (although I have also recently seen this done with pine) the balsa tip splinters into sharp shards. However, with the spiral cut, the pine tips break blunt so there is no chance of a splinter entering an eye slit or finding a weak spot in armour.

You can see the blunt ends left on both the broken piece and the remaining portion of the lance tip after the spiral cut pine tip broke off of Sarah Hay's lance during this rare tip to tip hit.
(photo by Andrew Turner/ATPhoto)

From the cost point-of-view, the spiral cut pine tips also worked out as being a bit cheaper than the last batch of balsa we brought.

I would like to acknowledge Frederic Piraux from Belgium as the designer of these tips, and my manufacturer Dave Smith of Dannevirke, New Zealand for making our local prototypes and production tips.

Callum Forbes
Order of the Boar, New Zealand
www.jousting.co.nz

You can see more pictures, video and information about the “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament” in the following articles:

Canadian Dale Gienow Wins New Zealand's “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament”

Video from "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Random Pic: Tip to Tip Hit

Sarah Hay's lance tip flies off just after a tip to tip hit
(photo by Andrew Turner/ATPhoto)

"Tip to Tip hits in the joust are very rare and up until Harcourt Park I can only ever recall 2 or 3 occuring over the past 10 years of modern sports jousting in NZ. But at Harcourt Park last month we had 4. This one was between Sarah Hay and an unknown opponent. Here you can see Sarah's tip breaking just after the hit. A good jouster can still follow through and deliver a good hit to his or her opponent." -- Callum Forbes

This picture was taken at the "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament" which was organized by Callum Forbes and the Order of the Boar.

Impromptu Joust on 90 Mile Beach in Ahipara, New Zealand

After the “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament” was over, several jousters decided that they simply hadn't had enough fun yet. Jousters Vikki Subritzky and John King are training buddies in the New Zealand based Guild of the Hawk and together with some of Vikki's family friends, they arranged for international jousters Dale Gienow and Anders Fernstedt along with their jousting support crew(their families and friends) to have accommodations and horses with which to spend some time enjoying the unique lifestyle of the Far North area of New Zealand.

Left to Right: John King, Anders Fernstedt, Vikki Subritzky and Dale Gienow on 90 Mile Beach in Ahipara, New Zealand (photo by the King family)

Almost two years ago, Dale had hosted Vikki when she went to Ontario, Canada to compete in his Trillium Challenge jousting tournament, so she deemed it only fair to return the favor when he was in New Zealand. Anders Fernstedt of Sweden also accepted Vikki's invitation to spend some time in the Far North. The jousters and their families and friends spent the week following Harcourt Park 2013 swimming, fishing and riding. They also decided to hold an impromptu joust at 90 Mile Beach on Saturday, February 23rd. The beach provided a delightful venue for jousting, and with the help of the local newspaper who published several articles about the joust, there was a decent audience to cheer everyone on.

Anders Fernstedt on Holly(left) jousts John King on Buck(right)(photo by Vikki Subritzky)

When asked about this impromptu jousting event, Vikki responded:

“For me personally, it was great to bring this event to an out of the way settlement, renown for its great surfing and fishing. It was a time to catch up on family friends, make new friends, and be spiritually connected with the environment.” – Vikki Subritzky

Anders Fernstedt was declared the winner of the Ahipara 90 Mile Beach Joust, though it sounds like everyone involved had a winning experience by spending time with such an incredible group of people in such a beautiful place.

Anders Fernstedt on Holly (photo by Vikki Subritzky)

Many thanks to Vikki Subritzky for providing information and pictures for this article.

You can find out more about the "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament" in these TJL articles:
Canadian Dale Gienow Wins New Zealand's “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament”
Video from "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Video from "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Star of the tv show "Full Metal Jousting", Rod Walker, and his camcorder spent some time filming at Harcourt Park February 16 - 17, 2013. (Sometimes Rod's camcorder wanders off in other hands and collects video of Rod himself or of things that happen when Rod is not around.) This is the first video that Rod has edited together out of the images that he and his camcorder collected during "Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament".

(video by Rod Walker (and his peripatetic camcorder))

You can read more about the Harcourt Park tournament on its website as well as in a previous article on "The Jousting Life"

Canadian Dale Gienow Wins New Zealand's “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament”

This past weekend, February 16 - 17, Dale Gienow of Canada won the prestigious Grail of Chivalry at the “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament” in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The Grail of Chivalry is awarded to the competitor who does the best overall in three competitions of jousting skill – mounted skill at arms (MSA), mounted melee and the tilt (which is what most people think of when they think of jousting).

Dale Gienow(left) tilts against Simon Tennant(right) at Harcourt Park 2013
(photo by Andrew Turner/ATPhoto)

It was an especially impressive feat since Dale had to overcome several obstacles just getting to the tournament.

According to Dale:

“Rough start getting to New Zealand... was supposed to get there on Monday to train with the other international joust competitors, but a wicked Toronto snowstorm made it impossible to travel. Managed a flight at the 11th hour and made it on Friday – the day before the tournament. Unfortunately, the airline lost my armour and it didn't actually arrive (thank-you Helen!) until 1 hour before I was set to joust. Though I had no time to train in armour, "Buck" helped to carry me through the event (thank-you John [John King, one of the other competitors], for a great horse). My win was that much sweeter for all the aggravation prior.

Callum Forbes put on an amazing event, and I'm still in awe of how he manages to run such a large crew, so smoothly. The competition was fierce and I barely managed the win. Yay Canada! The horses were awesome and the ground crew great... especially Michelle Walker, who runs a very tight ship!” – Dale Gienow

Michelle Walker (photo from Rod Walker's camera*)

Although Dale won the overall competition, he did not actually win the tilt, the portion of the tournament that most people think of as the actual jousting. That was won by Australian jouster Sarah Hay riding another of John King's horses named “Nugget”. Sarah is the current Australian Jousting Champion and is probably the best female competitive jouster in the world.

Sarah Hay riding Nugget in the tilt (photo by KL)

Sarah is certainly one of the most active women in the world of competitive jousting having competed successfully not only in her home country of Australia and its neighbor New Zealand, but also in Belgium, France, Poland, Denmark and the USA. She has actually won international jousting competitions in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Sarah placed second in the overall Harcourt Park 2013 tournament, barely missing first place because of being eliminated early on in the mounted melee portion of the tournament.

When asked about her experiences at Harcourt Park, Sarah responded:

“Harcourt Park is a very special event, and it was a privilege for me to ride there again. Callum Forbes runs a highly organised, professional event, and the setting, Harcourt Park, is absolutely magnificent. The riders this year were a really cohesive group who were generous with their praise to anyone who rode well. My thanks to all the competitors whose positivity, sense of fun and adventure and skill in the lysts made Harcourt Park so memorable.

My personal thanks goes to John King for providing my wonderful steed for the weekend ‘Nugget’. I’d also like to recognise the ground crew and squires who are absolutely essential to a smoothly run jousting tournament, especially Rosemary and Tony for all the help they gave me in preparing Nugget for each ride and helping me armour up.

There is a lovely feeling in the crowd at the Harcourt Park event. They really get excited about the joust, and it does make a difference to be cheered on... especially when we get the end of the competition and points are tight! My sincere thanks to Callum for putting on such a quality event. I can safely say that my recent week in New Zealand has been a highlight of my life.” – Sarah Hay

Anders Fernstedt(left) jousts Sarah Hay(right) at Harcourt Park 2013
(photo by Maarten Holl)

This year Swedish jouster Anders Fernstedt made his third appearance at Harcourt Park and placed third overall. Anders rode tournament organizer Callum Forbes' personal jousting horse Monty. Anders began riding with the Swedish Royal Cavalry in 1980. He later became involved with the jousting troupe Celeres Nordica and has been jousting internationally since 2005.

Anders Fernstedt at Harcourt Park 2013
(photo by KL)

Finishing in fourth place was the popular Belgian jouster Frederic Piraux who rode another of Callum Forbes' horses, PJ. Frederic created the “International Jousting League” probably the largest organization of competitive jousters in the world. He was also the winner of the previous “Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament” which was held in 2011. Sadly, this will be Fred's last year of competitive jousting. He is planning to retire after competing one last time in all of his favorite tournaments.

Frederic Piraux(left) jousts Simon Tennant(right) at Harcourt Park 2013
(photo by Andrew Turner/ATPhoto)

In addition to the Grail of Chivalry competition for experienced jousters, there was also an inaugural competition for the Chalice of Courage – a competition for less experienced jousters. New Zealander John King won first place by virtue of being the only novice jouster capable of completing the entire competition. This was not as easy as it might sound since he ended up tilting against more experienced jousters who took the place of the withdrawn novices in order to allow the competition to continue. John rode his horse Cabby on the first day of competition and his main horse Buck on the second day.

John King on his horse Cabby(photo by Linda King)

John also managed to win the mounted skill-at-arms (MSA) competition. And ended the mounted melee in an exciting three way fight to the finish with Dale Gienow and Anders Fernstedt, managing to defeat both of the more experienced jousters.

When asked about his experience at Harcourt Park, John answered:

“This is the second time I have attended Harcourt Park and I felt much more relaxed. I had spent a couple of days at Callum's place helping sort out horses for the international riders and just getting our horses ready for the tournament. It took a couple of days for the Guild of the Hawk team – Rosemary Hassan, Vikki Subritzky and myself – to travel to the tournament with our 8 horses. I had a relaxed attitude and was out to enjoy myself. This was Cabby's first joust show and I was just testing her out. She settled in really well and I was trilled with her performance. ” – John King

Fortunately, Rod Walker, famous from the “Full Metal Jousting” tv show, was not injured when fellow Australian jouster Andrew McKinnon managed to break his lance against Rod's helm during one of their matches on the first day of jousting.

“Andrew McKinnon puts it right on my nose ;-) Funny bugger.” – Rod Walker

Rod Walker(left) gets a lance to the face from Andrew McKinnon(right)
(photo by Sarah Hay using Rod Walker's camera*)

Unfortunately, Rod hit his knee against the tilt during the first day of jousting and injured it again during the mounted melee on the morning of the second day of the tourney. After the second injury, he chose to withdraw from the competition. Rod was actually in the lead at the end of the 1st day, so it was not an easy decision to make.

“It was a great event, and it was a really hard decision to pull out knowing I had a good lead.” – Rod Walker

A surprising thing about this tournament was the number of tip to tip lance hits. These kind of hits are usually extremely rare, but there were four of them during this tournament. A photographer managed to capture a picture an instant before Sarah Hay and Frederic Piraux smashed their tips together.

Sarah Hay(left) and Frederic Piraux(right) about to hit their lances tip to tip
(photo by Mark Dinsbury)

Although the tournament organizer, Callum Forbes of “The Order of the Boar”, was trying out a new style of frangible lance tip[more about that in a future article], it is unlikely that the new tips had anything to do with the increase in tip to tip hits.

In addition to the jousting tournament, the Harcourt Park event also included a Battle of the Nations(BotN) style ground combat display and competition, an archery display and competition and various living history displays. You can find out more about Callum Forbes and “The Order of the Boar” on their website. They are planning for the next “Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament” to take place in the year 2015.

Many of the jousters and ground crew responsible for putting on the tournament.
(photo from Rod Walker's camera*)

List of the Winners at Harcourt Park 2013:

Grail of Chivalry:
1st – Dale Gienow (Canada)
2nd – Sarah Hay (Australia)
3rd – Anders Fernstedt (Sweden)
4th – Frederic Piraux (Belgium)

Chalice of Courage(for novice jousters):
1st – John King (New Zealand)
No other places were given for the Chalice of Courage as none of the other novice competitors managed to complete the competition.

Winner of the tilt – Sarah Hay

Winner of the mounted melee – John King

Winner of the mounted skill-at-arms competition – John King

John King, Sarah Hay, Dale Gienow and Anders Fernstedt – winners at Harcourt Park 2013 
(photo by Linda King)

Photo Albums of Harcourt Park 2013
– Andrew Turner/ATPhoto
– KL Photography


News articles that mention the “Harcourt Park 2013 World Invitational Jousting Tournament”:
1-10-13 CNN Travel: World's most extreme sport? The modern renaissance of jousting

1-17-13 Wellington Scoop: Jousting in Upper Hutt named by CNN as one of world’s top six locations

1-23-13 Upper Hutt Leader: Serious jousting event goes global

2-15-13 The Dominion Post: Battles ahead in medieval sport

2-17-13 Stuff.co.nz: Joust so you know, armour-plated sheilas do it too

2-19-13 The Dominion Post: Joust another day at the office

2-20-13 Upper Hutt Leader: Nations jostle for position in ancient action


*Although these pictures came from Rod Walker's camera, he was usually not the one taking the pictures. He simply handed the camera to whomever was available to take pictures, thus it is impossible to know exactly who took which pictures.

This Weekend in New Zealand: "The Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament"

Saturday and Sunday, February 16 - 17, jousters from New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Belgium, Canada and the United States will compete for the Grail of Chivalry in "The Harcourt Park International Jousting Tournament." This year's tournament will be held in honor of Jouster Ulrich Kiener, who passed away earlier this year.

Click on the pictures below to animate them:

Jousters at "Harcourt Park 2012"(animated gifs from Order of the Boar)

In order to be awarded the Grail of Chivalry, jousters must demonstrate their prowess not only in the tilt yard, but also in mounted skill at arms (MSA) and the mounted melee. Novice jousters will compete against each other in an attempt to earn the Chalice of Courage.

The Grail of Chivalry and the Chalice of Courage (photo from Order of the Boar)

Some of the jousters competing for the Grail of Chivalry will include: Anders Fernstedt - Sweden, Andrew McKinnon - Australia, Dale Gienow- Canada, Frederic Piraux - Belgium, Rod Walker - Australia, Sarah Hay - Australia, Simon Tennant - New Zealand and Vikki Subritzky - New Zealand.

Novice jousters competing for the Chalice of Courage will include: Bryan Ketly - Australia, Emily Perrin - New Zealand, North Gienow - Canada and John King - New Zealand,

In addition to the jousting tournament, there will be a competitive foot battle between the Australian and New Zealand "Battle of the Nations" teams. There will also be archery and “living history” activities in a medieval tent village including food and craft stalls.

Archers at "Harcourt Park 2012" (photo from Order of the Boar)

You can find out more about the jousting tournament and the other events on "The Harcourt Park International Jousting Tournament website."

Promotional Video for “Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament”

The “Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament” will take place February 16 - 17 in Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt, New Zealand.

(video posted by Callum Forbes)

Also, Callum Forbes, the organizer of the event will be doing a live radio interview with Justin du Fresne on Wellington's 'NewsTalk ZB' at 9:40am on Saturday, February 16.[correction: The interview was this morning Saturday, February 9.]

You can find out more about the event on its website.

“Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament” Gains Media Attention

The “Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament” which takes place February 16 - 17 in Upper Hutt, New Zealand is garnering attention from the news services.

Harcourt Park Medieval Tournament poster (photo from Order of the Boar)

First the New Zealand tournament was mentioned in a CNN Travel article about contemporary competitive jousting, and now a couple of other articles have been written about it in some New Zealand newspapers:

1-17-2013
Wellington Scoop: "Jousting in Upper Hutt named by CNN as one of world’s top six locations"

1-23-2013
Upper Hutt Leader: "Serious jousting event goes global"

Frederic Piraux, the winner of the last tournament, takes a blow from a lance
(photo by Peter McDonald)

You can find out more specific information about the joust, the jousters and their horses on the "Order of the Boar" website.