Ever heard of the Bushies Boot Throw? For the uninitiated, it’s a competition to see who can throw a boot the furthest. Strange? Yes. Fun? You bet!
Boot throwing is a “sport” that’s practiced around the world – including in the coastal NSW town of Tilba.
Running for more than 30 years, the Bushies Boot Throw Contest is a highly-anticipated event on the annual Tilba Easter Festival schedule, with the original boot still being tossed today. “To my knowledge, the same Blundstone boot has been used in the competition all this time,” says Kelly Eastwood, President of the Tilba Easter Festival.
“It’s one of the earliest festival games, and people love it,” says Central Tilba local, Peita Wall . “The boot can fly all over the place much to the amusement of the crowd. It may even hit people in the head, but no one seems to mind,” she adds. Kelly agrees that the competition always provides a bit of drama. “The boot always flies into the crowd and even into many of the market stalls!”
Gumboot throwing in Taihape on Gumboot Day Source: Taihape Information Centre
On festival day there are three heats – all announced by the town crier – of about 20 participants each, one of which has been River Cottage Australia host, Paul West. How did his participation unfold? Simple really. “I threw the Blunnie [Blundstone boot] over my head, marked my ‘X’ way out, and thought, ‘I’m a shoe-in for this!’” he says. (Pun likely intended.) “Then I realised I was partaking in the kids’ event!” [Watch Paul’s boot throwing in tonight’s episode of River Cottage Australia, 7.30pm on SBS, then on SBS On Demand.]
However, it’s not as easy as Paul makes it out to be – there’s certainly a knack to a winning throw (the Tilba Festival record is a distance of about five metres). Take a tip from the Tilba Festival organisers, using this picture as a guide: “This is a good technique for the boot throw. The boot has to come back under between your legs and end up in front of you.”
To the festival organisers’ surprise, Tilba isn’t the only place where boot throwing is conducted. It’s an internationally recognised sport with world championships to, ahem, boot (and throws of up to an impressive 30 or 40 metres). Its peak body is the International Boot-Throwing Association (IBTA), which includes 24 points of rules on their website. The association is based in Europe, but love for the sport goes further. Taihape, on the North Island of New Zealand, claims to be the gumboot capital of the world complete with a giant gumboot welcoming people to their town and an annual Gumboot Day, on which gumboot throwing is a key feature.
The Taihape gumboot Source: Taihape Information Centre
Internet searches reveal slightly different techniques the world over. While some subscribe to the Tilba technique, others throw the boot in an almost shot put like fashion. Although, when it comes to the rules on the IBTA website, they say: “The throwing style and the grip of the boot are free, but the leg of the boot must be straight when the boot is in the air.” So basically, anything goes.
Some say a grip on the top of the boot makes for more momentum.
Since Paul hadn’t competed in an event like this before, he turned to the kids for some tips. “All they said was, ‘Throw it over your head.’” Paul has his own advice: “You have to release the boot at the key point of explosiveness: at the tip of the arc so it doesn’t fall on the ground right behind you.”
Lead image: Tilba Easter Festival
River Cottage Australia airs Mondays 7.30pm and Thursdays 8.35pm on SBS. Catch up on SBS On Demand here.
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