Tossing the phone now in a league of its own

Chucking the mobile, writes Dara Fox, is a tempting prospect, especially when it's somebody else's. But for some the urge to throw the invasive box into the distance is now a full-blown sport

You thought synchronised swimming was a silly sport? Try mobile-phone throwing, the world championships of which take place this weekend in Savonlinna, Finland.

We've all felt like chucking the mobile, usually somebody else's when they're doing the mega-volume: "I'm on the train!" in a crowded carriage. Phone-throwing might not yet be a bona fide craze, but it's growing, according to Christine Lund, organiser of the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships 2005.

"We started with 30 competitors in 2000, and this year there will be 160. Sixty per cent are Finnish, but we also have competitors from Australia, Canada, Norway, Germany, and elsewhere," she told August Days. The Irish have been lagging behind and won't be fielding a competitor, but Lund, who runs a translation and interpretation service, reckons it's only a matter of time.

"The mobile phone is a part of us that connects us to nearly anywhere in the world, but when you most need it the battery runs out or your sweetheart doesn't answer or someone doesn't return your call. Hope, anticipation, passion and frustration are all concentrated on the mobile phone," she says lyrically.

"There are lots of phones lying in thousands of lakes in Finland. But before mobile phones become toxic waste they can be recycled in activities such as mobile phone throwing, the only sport where you can pay back all the frustrations and disappointments caused by this modern equipment," she says.

Conventional sports have weighty tomes on rules and regulations - but to toss a mobile phone, surely, all you do is go outside and, well, throw. However Lund has masterminded a full-scale sporting apparatus, including two categories of throwing: traditional (over the shoulder), where the length of the throw is crucial; and freestyle, where the contestant gets points for aesthetics and "creative choreography".

The weight of the phones vary, from 220g (7.76 ounces) to over 400g (14.11 ounces). There is even a developing body of expert opinion, with some believing that heavier phones fly farther than lighter ones, and others the opposite. All phones used in competition are checked and approved as "official championship equipment".

Sadly though, for those for whom their mobile has become a personal nemesis, competitors are supplied with phones for throwing, making it somewhat difficult to take out your frustrations on your own.

Finally, mobile throwing also has its record holders, with Ville Piippo setting a new world best figure of 82.55m (90yds) last year. At the rate the phone-throwing bureaucracy is going, it's only a matter of time before drug testing is introduced.

To measure yourself against the best next year, go to www.savonlinnafestivals.com for an application. To do it on the cheap, start a competition in Ireland, win it, and your travel expenses to Finland will be taken care of. The first prize at the "mobilympics": a new mobile phone.