Do you hate your mobile phone? Donate it to a Finn.
Savonlinna, Finland has been hosting the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships for over a decade, and this year’s competition was held over the weekend. The competition pits competitors against each other in a bid to throw cell phones as far as possible, and in creative ways. Despite the worldwide reach of the competition, the event itself is rather informal. It appears to often involve costumes and champagne.
According to the ITN News broadcast seen below, contestants compete in three different categories: original, freestyle, and junior. The original event sees contestants simply try and chuck a mobile phone as far as possible. The freestyle event judges contestants on the aesthetics and creativity of their throw. The junior event is for contestants under 12 years of age.
The winner of this year’s original throw category was a local Finn named Ere Karjalainen, who threw a mobile phone 101.46 meters. This falls just short of the world record held by a Belgian named Chris Hughff, which is 102.68 meters. The runner up was a South African named Jeremy Gallop, who threw a phone 94.97 meters.
If you are interested in getting involved with phone throwing, or just need an excuse to tour Finland, sign-ups for the 2013 Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships are already underway.
Take a brief look at ITN’s report on this year’s championships, then see what the competition is really about with the event’s own preview video: