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Competitors Toss Horseshoes in St. George

4,145 views · Published 26 July 2013 · 2:27 · Indexed 26 October 2026

Channel: KUTV 2 News Salt Lake City · 2013 · News & Politics

By Ladd Egan(KUTV) Sunny southern Utah is known for hosting sporting events for soccer, tennis and softball, but next week a more unusual competition is coming to town: horseshoe pitching. This is different than anything thats ever happened in the convention center before, said Kevin Lewis with the St. George Tourism Office. The National Horseshoe Pitchers Association will hold its world tournament at the Dixie Convention Center in St. George from July 22 through August 3. The convention center has been transformed with 42 precisely-measured horseshoe courts filled with red clay to keep the horseshoes from sliding once they land. Typically the courts have blue clay. More than 1,000 competitors from the U.S., Canada, Norway, South Africa and Namibia will compete in the two-week tournament, which includes divisions ranging from boys and girls up to senior men and women. Ive never been to one before so this is really an amazing opportunity for us who live fairly close by, said Arnold Pope, a Lehi, Utah resident and horseshoe pitcher competitor. This is the first time St. George has played host to the unique competition, marking the tournaments return to Utah after nearly 50 years. Murray City hosted the horseshoe world championships 13 times from 1947 to 1966.Its a rare group of people, theyre friendly, theyre genuine, said Jerry LaBrosse, a competitor from Minnesota who also serves as a vice president for the national pitchers association. LaBrosse, who has a tattoo on his calf of a horseshoe game and the word passion, was introduced to the sport as a teenager. Ive been at it pretty much ever since, LaBrosse said. This is my lifelong passion.LaBrosse said part of the associations decision to hold the tournament in St. George was the scenery and access to national parks. Im telling everybody in our tournament that I talk to, there is one thing youve got to do here and that is go see Zion Park, he said. Because of the length of competition, its expected that competitors and their families will stay in the area longer than they typically would during the typical one-day sporting event. That should pump millions into the local economy. It does bring a new demographic, a new audience into the area and introduces them to a place that they might not have seen before, Lewis said.The tournament is open to the public to come observe. For more information about the tournament, visit HorseShoePitching.com.(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcasting Group)

Competitors Toss Horseshoes in St. George

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