Australian knights punch above their weight in jousting renaissance

Updated

Step aside, horse racing, there's a new sport of kings in Australia. Or, to be more exact, a sport of knights.

Fuelled by the incredible popularity of shows like Game of Thrones, jousting is experiencing a renaissance as medieval festivals across the country stage real-life competitions.

Phil Leitch and Andrew McKinnon are two leading competitors in the growing sport and say Australia more than holds its own in the brutal and bruising world of international competitive jousting.

'You get bruised up'

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Australia more than holds its own in the world of international competitive jousting (ABC News)

In the business of modern competitive jousting there are no shortcuts.

The armour is real. The horses are real. The lances are solid wood. And the impact is very much felt.

"You do get bruised up a bit," says Leitch, who likens jousting to an extreme sports.

"It's equal part excitement and adrenalin and that all mixes together."

For Leitch, a former special forces soldier, the transition into jousting was a pretty natural one.

He grew up on a diet of King Arthur stories and role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. And he had a natural fascination for both the historical and fantastical side of medieval life that was yearning for an outlet.

"I was always really interested in all things medieval like knights and castles and those sorts of things," he says.

"Then when I reached adulthood I became more interested in what it actually felt like for those guys.

"I started making armour, and we had horses and it progressed from there."

He began his training about 10 years ago and entered his first competition in 2009. He has since gone on to claim trophies in competitions around the world, including the prestigious Tournoi de Sainte Suzanne in France earlier this year.

With a day job managing the jousters at Kryal Castle in Victoria, Leitch is now Australia's only full-time, professional jouster.

"When you have that skill set people seek you out to do work or compete," he says.

For McKinnon, a public relations expert who started training about the same time as Leitch, the pathway to jousting wasn't quite so clear cut.

"Some people called it a mid-life crisis, I called it a project," he says.

"I thought, what's better for a 40-year-old who has never ridden a horse before?"

Helped along by "mad" friends who share his passion, McKinnon has since competed in about 20 competitions across Australia, Europe and New Zealand.

How does professional jousting work?

In the simplest of terms, the point of jousting is to ride at your opponent and hit them with your lance. But within that simple goal is a whole range of intricacies that vary across the countries.

Heavy lances are common in the United States, Leitch says, where the aim is to knock your opponent off their horse.

In Australia, lighter lances are often used and extra points may be awarded if the lance breaks.

Points are usually awarded if the lance hits the opponent's shield, but not if it hits their helmet, and in all cases the horses are sacrosanct.

"It's kind of like racing cars, you might be at Bathurst one day and then Formula One the next," Leitch says.

For competitors it is a battle of concentration and nerves.

"You're looking through a narrow eye slow and concentrating ... and in the back of your mind you're thinking about the fact that you might get hit," Leitch says.

"It's not a sport that you go into angry or mad, it just doesn't work," McKinnon adds.

"It's definitely a sport that's won or lost in your own head. There's no defence, it's all offence.

"And you've got to remember the partner under your legs is in there too."

Jousting is perhaps most popular in Europe, where more than 50 professional tournaments are scheduled for this year alone.

There are a further 12 planned for North America and seven across Australia and New Zealand.

Leitch and McKinnon are adamant Australians are among the best in the business.

"The Aussies definitely punch above their weight and are respected," McKinnon says.

"International competitors are so keen to come down to compete. To put it in terms of the Bledisloe Cup, we've beaten the New Zealanders the last three or four years. How are the rugby guys going? Not so much."

The rise of medieval festivals

A proper jousting tournament wouldn't be complete without a bit of pomp and ceremony, and luckily the competitions usually form part of a bigger medieval festival.

The annual Abbey Medieval Festival near Brisbane is billed as the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and includes historically accurate 14th century encampments and workshops stretching over acres of bushland.

Alongside the jousting are mock castle sieges, sword fighting demonstrations, craft workshops and bird displays.

The festival has been running for more than two decades and this year welcomed a record crowd of more than 30,000.

The St Ives Medieval Faire in NSW is another mainstay on the calendar and was created by McKinnon. It will return in late September and is expecting more than 15,000 attendees.

"They're very clearly growing in popularity," Leitch says of the festivals.

"The number of events is increasing; the number of people attending is on the rise; the number of participants and people who can joust is increasing.

"Things like Lord Of The Rings starting 10 years ago, and Game of Thrones, it's really brought on a bit of a boom. And there are new jousters all the time."

McKinnon says he has made it his mission to spread the word about the festivals and jousting in particular, and he is confident the appeal will only continue to grow.

"As a story it's pretty unique and spectacular to get caught up in," he says.

"It has a unique place out there, it has its own niche."

Topics: medieval, carnivals-and-festivals, sport, australia

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