While only the elite dare enter the championships, Wednesday's Games of the IJA was definitely an event for the masses. Past editions of The Games have spread out over city blocks worth of space, but with the Vegas mercury topping 100­degrees nearly every day, this year it was definitely an inside job ­ except by necessity for the joggling races. The 38 jogglers did try to avoid the worst of the heat by hitting the track at 8 a.m., and they were done by noon. Mike Hebebrand, who has won events in several other years, added the 1995 mile and 5,000 meter jewels to his crown, but no records were broken. Franz Roos from Switzerland won the 400 in 1:05.4 after having just learned to joggle in a workshop the previous day! Dorothy Finnigan won the first-ever junior women's 100 meter event.

 

Games director Scott Slesnick added three new contests this year that caught the popular fancy. In "club gathering," contestants grabbed clubs out of the air as they were passed with double spins in an even cadence from a feeder. Whoever could hold the most clubs-cradled under an arm, pinned between legs or held between teeth-before dropping one was the winner. The numbers went higher and higher as people learned from the mistakes of others, and Alex Karvounis finally topped everyone by holding 40 clubs before dropping!

 

The other two new games were "Three Ball Simon Says" in which the moderator called on entrants to exercise all sorts of body contortions and juggling tricks, and "Balloon Dog Races" which tested foot speed, hand quickness and lung power.

 

In possibly the most outstanding performance of the day, last year's IJA champion Tony Duncan kept three balls going in a cascade with his eyes closed for 5:07, even after other competitors in the "Three Ball Blind" competition pressed close and kidded him to try to make him drop! Yo-yo aficionados occupied one end of the juggling hall, and ended up crowing Bill deBoisblanc as winner of the top division at the end of about three hours of competitions. (See accompanying list for complete Games results.)

 

Numbers jugglers competed on Thursday, the final day of the' festival, and followed new rules that successfully speeded up the proceedings. Rather than conducting "rounds" at each number of objects, competitors had a simple three-minute window in which to do their best at any and all levels. No individuals topped previous marks, but IJA records fell in team ball passing Joey Cousin &: Bruce Sarafian with 54 catches of 13), ring passing (Nick & Alex Karvounis with 52 catches of 12) and club passing (Nick & Alex Karvounis with 176 catches of 10).

 

While the winners made the headlines, most of the fun for folks was in seeing new people and old friends among the 575 registered jugglers on the festival floor. Or in not seeing them in the black-light darkness of the "Glowing Experience" room, which was illuminated on several occasions for people to try out their day-glow and fluorescent props.

 

Or swapping tales about the occasionally irreverent and hilarious routines on the Club Renegade Stage. Many audience favorites who didn't appear publicly elsewhere during the festival did make at least a cameo appearance at Club Renegade, including Butterfly Man, Graeme Ellis, Frank Olivier, Henrik Bothe and David Deeble, who won the "Dan Holzman Sound-Alike Contest." The Passing Zone did a routine which parodied "only available through this special offer" television ads, juggling a garden weasel and a chia pet while Owen did reps with a thigh-master. Ngaio Bealum did double-duty as an emcee, carrying the load on the Renegade stage several nights and then donning a tux to introduce the championships entrants.