Charlie Andrews and the
Knights of Mayhem were the featured competitors in this year's jousting tournament at
Sherwood Forest Faire. There were six competitors overall, Greg Boxma, Eddie Rigney, DJ Coburger, Joe Ambrosius, Jason Armstrong and, of course, Charlie Andrews. The competition was held as a double elimination tournament, which means that each competitor had to lose two matches before being eliminated from the tournament. (To see a simple summary of the tournament matches and the order in which competitors were eliminated,
skip to the bottom of this post.)
Each match, except for the final one, consisted of four passes. The final match consisted of five passes. However, if the score was tied after four(or five) passes, the match would continue until there was a clear winner. In each pass, a touch within the red target area of the Gridded Grande Guard was worth 3 points. A touch within the target area with a lance break was worth 5 points. A touch within the target area with an unhorsing was worth 10 points. A touch anywhere other than within the target area did not earn any points regardless of whether the lance broke or the opponent was unhorsed. Strikes directly to the head or below the waist were penalized 5 points.
The King of Arms for this tournament was Steve Hemphill, a highly ranked jouster in the
International Jousting League and the producer of
Lysts on the Lake, the largest competitive jousting tournament in the world. As King of Arms, it was Steve's responsibility to make sure that the competition was scored accurately and that all the rules of the tournament were followed. He was helped in this endeavor by scoring judges Tiffany Geissendorf and Dawn Hemphill, and assistant scoring judges William Brunson and Becca Johnson. To give the jousters and horses the rest breaks needed to cool down and re-hydrate, the tournament was broken down into three sessions. The first session began at 12:30pm, the second at 3:30pm and the third at 6pm.
1st Jousting Session 12:30pm
1:1 In the first session, the first match was between Greg Boxma and Eddie Rigney.
Greg Boxma, at 22 years of age, is one of the youngest competitive jousters in the world. Greg began his apprenticeship with Charlie Andrews and the
Knights of Mayhem in 2008, and has competed in the Estes Park jousting tournament for the past three years. He rode two different horses during the competition, Tinkerbell and Jaeger. For this match, he was riding Tinkerbell, Steve Hemphill's Frisian/Percheron mare.
Eddie Rigney, known as Fast Eddie, was the least experienced competitor in this tournament with only one month of squiring experience and one month of joust training under his belt. Also, he was competing with a broken hand which had been injured during the previous week's jousting. Around his arm and on his saddle, he sported pink favors in honor of his mother and others who are fighting breast cancer. Throughout the tournament, he rode jouster Robert Welch's Belgian mare, Daisy.
After four passes,
Eddie had beaten Greg, 11 - 3. Eddie advanced to the second jousting session. Since this was a double elimination tournament, Greg was not eliminated, but he did suffer one loss and now had to compete later in the same session against whoever lost the second match of the tournament.
Eddie Rigney(left) and Greg Boxma(right) joust(photo by Zhi Zhu)
1:2 The second match of the first session was between DJ Coburger and Joe Ambrosius.
Experienced jouster DJ Coburger rode Chaos, a Shire mare, throughout the tournament.
Joe Ambrosius was featured in the National Geographic tv show,
“Knights of Mayhem”. Joe joined up with Charlie Andrews and the
Knights of Mayhem in January of 2011 and has since competed in a number of different jousting tournaments. Joe sports a signature blue mohawk on his helm, and rode Thor, Charlie's Paint/Belgian gelding throughout the competition.
DJ outscored Joe 10 – 8. DJ had made it to the second jousting session, and Joe was now slated to compete against Greg later on in the current session.
DJ Coburger(on left) and Joe Ambrosius(on right) joust(photo by Zhi Zhu)
1:3 The third match of the first session was between Charlie Andrews and Jason Armstrong.
Charlie Andrews is the leader of the
Knights of Mayhem as featured on the
National Geographic tv show. Charlie has competed in numerous tournaments and won most of them. Like Eddie, Charlie was also competing with a broken hand. Charlie wore yellow feathers and a pink rose on his helm and a purple and yellow favor on his arm. He rode his Belgian gelding, Jaegermeister – Jaeger for short – throughout the competition.
Jason Armstrong is another member of the
Knights of Mayhem. At 5' 8", he is not as large as most other jousters. However, he says that despite the risks, there is no feeling like jousting. Jason wore a blue, green and white favor on his arm and rode three different horses during the competition, Daisy, Thor and Jaeger. For this match, he rode the Belgian mare Daisy.
Charlie beat Jason 14 – 6. Charlie advanced to the second jousting session, and Jason now had to face the winner of the match between Greg and Joe.
Jason Armstrong(left) and Charlie Andrews(right) joust (photo by Zhi Zhu)
1:4 The fourth match of the first session was between the competitors who lost in the first two matches, Greg Boxma on Jaeger and Joe Ambrosius on Thor. Despite the fact that Greg managed to unhorse Joe,
Joe outscored Greg, 20 - 15. This was Greg's second loss, and he was eliminated from the tournament.
1:5 After a short break to allow Joe to rest and re-hydrate, the fifth and final match of the first session was between Joe Ambrosius on Thor, who still had one loss, and Jason Armstrong on Daisy, who also had one loss. After four passes,
Jason beat Joe, 6 - 3. This was Joe's second loss, and he was eliminated from the tournament. Jason advanced to the second jousting session.
Jason Armstrong(left) and Joe Ambrosius(right) joust(photo by Zhi Zhu)
2nd Jousting Session 3:30pm
2:1 The first match of the second session was between the two competitors who won the first two matches of the first session, Eddie Rigney on Daisy and DJ Coburger on Chaos.
Eddie beat DJ, 13 – 11. This was DJ's first loss which slotted him into the next match against Jason who had made it through the first jousting session with one loss.
Eddie Rigney(left) and DJ Coburger(right) joust
(photo by Zhi Zhu)
2:2 After a brief break, the two competitors with one loss each faced off in the second match of the second session, Jason Armstrong on Thor and DJ Coburger on Chaos.
Jason outscored DJ, 14 – 10. This was DJ's second loss, and he was eliminated from the competition.
DJ Coburger(left) and Jason Armstrong(right) joust(photo by Zhi Zhu)
2:3 The third match of the second session was between the remaining two competitors with no losses, Charlie Andrews riding Jaeger and Eddie Rigney riding Daisy.
Charlie beat Eddie, 18 – 8. Since this was Eddie's first loss, he was NOT eliminated from the competition. He did however, have to face Jason, who still only had one loss, in the next match.
Charlie Andrews(left) and Eddie Rigney(right) joust(photo by Zhi Zhu)
2:4 After another brief break, the forth match of the competition saw Eddie Rigney on Daisy unhorse Jason Armstrong on Thor. After being un-horsed, Jason switched to Jaeger as his mount. Ultimately,
Eddie beat Jason, 20 – 6. This was Jason's second loss, and he was eliminated from the competition.
This left Eddie, the least experienced jouster in the competition to face Charlie, the most experienced jouster in the competition – and Eddie's trainer – in the final match.
3rd Jousting Session 6:00pm
3:1 In the third jousting session, the one unbeaten competitor, Charlie Andrews, and the remaining competitor with one loss, Eddie Rigney, faced off.
Charlie Andrews(left) and Eddie Rigney(right)(photos by Zhi Zhu)
Both competitors had broken their hands the week before, yet both had made it to the final match. Since Charlie had no losses and this was a double elimination tournament, in order for Eddie to win, he would have to beat Charlie two matches in a row.
The match between Charlie and Eddie was an exciting one. Both competitors did extremely well, and there was even a double un-horsing during one pass.
However, after five passes,
Charlie had beaten Eddie 28 – 21. This was Eddie's second loss, and he was eliminated from the competition, leaving
Charlie Andrews the undefeated winner of the Sherwood Forest Faire Jousting Tournament.
Charlie Andrews wins joust(photo by Zhi Zhu)
In the spirit of fun and entertainment, Charlie and Eddie did make several more passes against each other, however, these extra passes had no bearing on the competition.
Eddie Rigney and Charlie Andrews cross lances joust for fun(photo by Zhi Zhu)
1:1 Eddie Rigney on Daisy beats Greg Boxma on Tinkerbell,
11 - 3. Greg's 1st loss
1:2 DJ Coburger on Chaos beats Joe Ambrosius on Thor,
10 - 8. Joe's 1st loss
1:3 Charlie Andrews on Jaeger beats Jason Armstrong on Daisy,
14 - 6. Jason's 1st loss
1:4 Joe Ambrosius on Thor beats Greg Boxma on Jaeger,
20 - 15. Greg's 2nd loss; Greg is eliminated
1:5 Jason Armstrong on Daisy beats Joe Ambrosius on Thor,
6 - 3. Joe's 2nd loss; Joe is eliminated
2nd Jousting Session 3:30pm
2:1 Eddie Rigney on Daisy beats DJ Coburger on Chaos,
13 - 11. DJ's 1st loss
2:2 Jason Armstrong on Thor beats DJ Coburger on Chaos,
14 - 10. DJ's 2nd loss; DJ is eliminated
2:3 Charlie Andrews on Jaeger beats Eddie Rigney on Daisy,
18 - 8. Eddie's 1st loss
2:4 Eddie Rigney on Daisy beats Jason Armstrong on Thor/Jaeger,
20 - 6. Jason's 2nd loss; Jason is eliminated
3rd Jousting Session 6:00pm
3:1 Charlie Andrews on Jaeger beats Eddie Rigney on Daisy,
28 - 21. Eddie's 2nd loss; Eddie is eliminated
Charlie Andrews wins!
