NUMBERS

Peter Davison sets a five club record, but seven ballers fall short.

 

The seven object competition jinx on the IJA continued this year as the top finisher, Tony Duncan of New York, NY, won wthi a disappointingly low time.  His best run of the three tries was 7.51 seconds, far below his personal best and equally far short of the capability of many of the other dozen skillful competitors. "A good run for me is 12 seconds or more, " said Duncan, who used penny-weighted tennis balls. He added, "Mike Beck was getting long runs in warm-up, and everyone I talked to thought it would take 15 seconds to win it."

 

But, as he explained, "No one had a good day. " Duncan said the structure of the competitions could be impeding the times because "people just don't realize how hard it is to get up there and have only three shots." The next three top finishers were within one second of Duncan's winning time.

 

Other competitors voiced similar opinions, and several suggested each competitor be allowed a warm-up before each timed try. Championships director Greg Moss said the matter would be considered.

 

Over in the five clubs competition, however, Peter Davison had an extremely good day by keeping five Dube Classic clubs aloft for 6:10.64. That broke the IJA record he set at the 1980 convention in Fargo.

Davison said he has juggled five clubs since 1977, and did them for over 30 seconds during his first convention competition in Eugene, OR, the following year. "I count all my right-hand throws, it helps me concentrate," he explained. "When I get to 100, I start over, but always remember which 100 I'm on."   His winning time represented over 700 right handed throws without a drop, and his other two tries were consistently lengthy as well.

 

Davison's long winning time and several five club tricks demonstrated at the convention outside the competition inspired one conventioneer to observe, "Five clubs just isn't numbers anymore!"