Britain Hosts World Egg Throwing Championship

Julie Moens (C) and Tyler Hislop of Canada celebrate Moens's victory in the final of the Russian Roulette discipline during the 2017 World Egg Throwing Championships at Swaton Vintage Fair in Lincolnshire, England on June 25, 2017. (LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP/Getty Images)

Throwing an egg a long way isn’t hard.

Catching it whole is the trick.

Ask World Egg Throwing Championship winners Ben Sudell and Joe Beveridge. They managed to throw—and catch—an egg unbroken for 55 yards.

They did this Sunday, June 25, at the World Egg Throwing Championships in Swaton, England.

Egg-tossing is a serious sport.

It’s roots go back to pagan times, and variations of the sport have been seen throughout history around the world. The World Egg Throwing Federation was formed in 2005 to regulate it—because obviously with such an important competition, there must be careful observation of the rules.

Winning takes practice. Proper technique must be developed and honed.

“Well for a tosser it’s really important to have a really strong wrist, it’s all in the wrist action and for the catcher you got a nice padding in, cricket players are really good at this they need to cushion it in,” explained co-organizer John Deptford. “Or for the crowd, one hand in front of you so it smashes nicely and splats them all over the face.”

A competitor fails to catch a thrown egg without it smashing during an egg throwing discipline of the 2017 World Egg Throwing Championships at Swaton Vintage Fair in Lincolnshire, England on June 25, 2017.
(LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP/Getty Images)

Along with the Egg Toss, the event featured two other sports: Egg trebuchet, and Egg Russian Roulette.

This last is exactly what it sounds like—competitors smash hard-boiled eggs on their foreheads until the find the raw egg.

The joy of Russian Roulette is seeing somebody pick the wrong egg,“ said event organizer, Andy Dunlop. ”They go in there all confident. I was particularly pleased when I saw the Germans in the first game going in very confidently, picking the first egg and smashing a raw one on their forehead.”

Canadian competitor Julie Moens won Russian Roulette.

Moens described her technique is mystical terms.

“I’m not going to lie—I had a little pro tip from the organizer,” Moens revealed. “He told me to use the reiki and feel for the aura of the eggs and that’s what I did today, I went up there and listened to the eggs, I let the eggs tell me which one to pick, and it was a cracking technique, it worked really well.”

With partner Tyler Hislop she won the trebuchet competition as well—bravo Team Canada. One wonders if they will get a parade when they return home.