Alan Francis and Joan Elmore – 2012 World Champions!
The 2012 World Tournament was held at the Knoxville Convention Center, in Knoxville, Tennessee from July 30 to August 11. All 46 portable courts were equipped with electronic scoring. A total of 32 Canadians were among the 1230 entries this year. There were 21 from Ontario, 5 from New Brunswick, 4 from Alberta, and one from Nova Scotia. There were also entries from South Africa and of course the majority of the participants came from all across the US. The youngest pitcher entered was sevenyear-old Katelin Lamoth from Iowa, while the oldest was Wichita pitcher Tom Small who has marked up 93 birthdays!!
The following Champions were crowned in 8 divisions:
Men: Alan FRANCIS, Defiance, OH 15-0 83.0%
Women: Joan ELMORE, Mt. Juliet, TN 15-0 84.6%
Elders: Rich PINTOR, Idledale, CO 13-2 78.9%
Senior Men: James COOPER, Sevierville, TN 11-0 69.6%
Senior Women: Gert WILCZIEK, WI 7-0 82.0%
Junior Boys: Dalton RAKESTRAW, MO 7-0 87.7%
Junior Girls: Brianna McCORMICK, Bristol, VT 5-0 60.5%
Cadets: Ryan SCHEPERS, MO 6-0 49.4%
Three Canadians qualified in their respective championship divisions. Ontario’s Kaitlyn Pond took fourth place in the Junior Girls Championship with a 46.5% average. Vermont’s Brianna McCormick won the division. Dalton Rakestraw captured the Junior Boys with an impressive 87.7% average. Stan Leis, also from Ontario, qualified for the Senior Men’s Championship where he took 8th placewith an average of 49.4%. James Cooper from Tennessee, former Ohioan, is another new champion crowned in that group. Albertan Jane Cordingley had a very good week in Knoxville. She first won the Women’s B class, qualifying for the Women’s Championship where she finished in 8th place with an average of 67.1%. The Women’s division was taken again by Joan Elmore who won her 4th consecutive and 6th title overall. She went undefeated for the first time and averaged 84.62%. The tough Elders division was won by Richard Pintor with 78.9%, edging Ohio’s Virgil Rife who recorded the high average of the group with 80.7%.
The Men’s division was won once again by Alan Francis of Defiance, Ohio. Alan is listed in the 2011 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for most world championships in horseshoe pitching. He continues to add to his impressive record as he captured his 17th Men’s title. Brian Simmons was off form this year and the podium was completed by Tom Williams and Jim Walters who tied for second with 13 wins and 2 losses, but Tom got second place with his barely higher average.
The 2012 inductee into the NHPA Hall of Fame was Will Gullickson from Minnesota.
The next World Tournaments will be held in:
2013 – St.George, Utah (July 22 to August 3)
2014 – Buffalo, New York (July 14-26)
See 2012 World Tournament complete results here.
