South Cumbria Rivers Trust is assembling a line-up of some of North West England’s most competitive and well-loved mascots as it prepares to stage the All England Open Skimming Championships’ inaugural mascot stone skimming contest, on 3rd July 2009.
This new event takes place the day before the official All England Open Skimming Championships, which will be staged at The Coniston Boat Hire Centre, Coniston Pier, on 4th July, with the first ‘fly’ as it is termed, at 10am.
The mascots will skim for glory in exactly the same location, at 2pm on 3rd July, with the line-up currently including Oscar the Otter (Lakes Aquarium), Plumpton the Bear (Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway) and Digger The Badger (Cumbria Wildlife Trust).
The mascot competition is expected to draw its own crowd of spectators and supporters who are sure to be highly entertained by the antics of the furry ‘flyers’. Organiser Ben Lamb says: “Whilst the general stone skimming competition requires skill and dexterity, with the winner being the one who achieves the greatest distance, having bounced the stone three times and kept within the designated lane marked out by buoys, the mascots will face their own challenges.
“Using paws, dealing with wobbly heads and managing to keep tails out of the way should all be interesting obstacles to overcome in the fight to be crowned champion mascot stone skimmer.”
