Irish boomerang team, but with a catch

Not since Lord Clifton Wrottesley shot to fourth place clinging to a skeleton during the 2002 winter Olympics will Ireland have been represented in as unlikely an international sport as this weekend.

Ireland is competing in the . . . wait for it . . . European Boomerang Championships. As aficionados say: "Welcome to the circle of boom love."

Boomerangs is the "ideal lazy man's sport" according to president of the British Boomerang Society, Sean McKenna, who hails from Co Kilkenny and has competed under an Irish flag in the past.

The championships are being held at Pengwern, Wales, where about 90 competitors from 11 countries will throw in six different disciplines testing speed, endurance and accuracy.

"In some events you are looking for the speed of the boomerang. In 'fast catch' the boomerang has to make a 20 metre circle and you have to throw and catch as fast as you can. Some people can do five catches in 15 seconds," says McKenna.

In other events the boomerang is thrown more than 50 metres before arcing back in a 180 degree turn to be caught by the thrower.

"You are launching at 80-90 mph and you are catching at around 60mph," says McKenna, adding that the competitors wear gloves and that injuries are "relatively rare".

The competition area is marked out by a series of competitive rings for different events. Each contains concentric rings with competitors scoring points depending on which ring they catch in.

Despite Ireland not having a boomerang society, it is well represented at these championships. "American" John Flynn who qualifies under the "grandad rule" will represent Ireland. Flynn is a four-time member of the World Champion US boomerang teams and will be "very competitive", according to McKenna.

He be joined under the Irish colours by Jim Millar from Belfast and Greg McKenna, who's mother comes from Co Monaghan.

McKenna says the popular notion of a boomerang as an Aboriginal hunting tool is wrong. "Boomerangs were always a toy. It predates the Aborigines by thousands of years. The Hopi Indians had them. They took 28 boomerangs out of Tutankhamen's tomb. Boomerangs are useless for hunting. They are lethal and people would end up killing themselves."

Modern boomerangs are far removed from the commonly portrayed dog-legged piece of wood. Competition boomerangs have innumerable shapes and are made of fiber-glass, carbon-fibre, kevlar and aviation plywood.

One of the keys in competitions is adjusting the boomerang's aerodynamic properties by adding weights to work with the conditions.

Despite not having a boomerang society, the first written record of boomerangs worldwide is held in the Trinity College library. Entitled The Vagaries of the Boomerang it dates from the late 1800s and describes boomerang throwing in the parks of Dublin.

The European Boomerang Championships run until Monday.