Source: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1114367
The Peterborough Examiner
July 16, 2008
Greg Davis, Sports Editor
Heron tosses for third at world championship
Bob Heron nearly got his car repairs covered at the world horseshoe championships.
Despite his car breaking down during the 850-kilometre drive from Peterborough to York, Penn., last week, Heron returned home a hero after earning a third-place finish and a $200 cheque at the 2008 World Horseshoe Pitching Championships.
First place would have garnered him $500 -- Heron's car repairs were in the $800-range.
"I should have won first, it would have helped cover the bill," quipped Heron.
The 71-year-old not only endured automobile woes but his own internal engine was stifling as a head cold bothered him throughout the elder men's 30-foot H-division (40- 43 ringer rate shooting percentage) competition.
"It was probably my first cold in eight years," the 71-year-old said yesterday.
Heron's head cold didn't impact him on opening day as he posted a 5-0 record. However, he slipped to 1-3 on the second day of competition but rebounded with a 3-1 effort in the
final day of play, including a win in his final game to finish with a 9-4 record thanks to a 42.5 ringer rate percentage.
The division had 16 players to begin but two dropped out after the first day. Richard Barrett of Pennsylvania won the division with an 11-2 record and 49.81 shooting percentage.
"One guy was throwing more than 70 per cent at one point -- I had to throw at 50 per cent to get where I was," said Heron, owner of 43.91 ringer percentage under Horseshoe Ontario competition.
"It was an awful lot of pressure, especially on the second day."
Heron, who is also the zone representative for Horseshoe Ontario (the sport's governing body), also had to adjust to the playing conditions at the York Expo Center. Normally, Heron plays in sand at the outdoor facility at the Navy Club in Peterborough, but the world championship was played on 56 new regulation clay courts.
"The shoe just sticks in clay -- there are no sliders -- it just hits and sticks so you got to hit the ringers dead-on," said Heron.
An air-conditioned facility did make play a little more bearable, Heron noted.
"It made playing comfortable because outside you couldn't breathe some days," he quipped.
Heron is only the second representative from the Peterborough Horseshoe Club to earn a top-three finish at the world championships. Bob Mawson was third in 1999 in Greenville, Ohio, in the F-division (40-and-over ringer percentage). Clubmate Tedd Hann finished fourth in Greenville.
"The competition was great and the guys were great to play with," said Heron.
"I'm on top of the world -- almost," he quipped.
NOTES: Also representing the Peterborough Horseshoe Club at the world championship are Lawrence Butcher, John Taylor, Dan Jolley and Rick
McIvor.....According to the National
Horseshoe Pitchers Association of America's website, this is the 100th edition of the world championships, which continue until July 19. This year's championship features 1,320 competitors....The championships were originally scheduled for a venue in Decatur, Ala., but the city defaulted on its bid.... Defending men's champion, Alan Francis of Defiance, Ohio, has an 88.01 ringer average and is seeking his 14th world title; current women's champion, Joan Elmore of Mount Juliet, Tenn., fires at 87.97 percent....The youngest competitor is Matthew Trader, 7, of Grand Forks, N. D.; the oldest is Eino Wiitala, 91, of Baltimore, Md.
Article ID# 1114367