RUBBER BOOTS CAROUSEL TOURNAMENT

    Here is a tournament which is, to say the least, original : The rubber boots carousel. It takes place on a special carousel formed of a platform open to everything. At the centre is a maypole eight meters in height. At the top of this maypole there are six stainless steel poles 5 centimetres in diameter on a ring. These poles hang freely down to the platform. The carousel is powered by an electric motor and can turn at different speeds. On the ground around the carousel, some mattresses are spread on the sand to avoid injuries due to falls.

    Of course the championship is open to everyone, but there are only six competitors for a single winner, who is paid a purse of a thousand euros. Those who last the longest time on a pole on the carousel will be declared the winner. But he must keep his feet in rubber boots. The spectators can place bets on the potential winners.

RULES OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP

The rubber boots are provided by the organisers. These are Nora Anton rubber boots. Each competitor wears these boots which must be two sizes larger than those which he normally wears. A little oil is added inside each boot.

Once the carousel is running, all blows are permitted except kicks to the head and fingers of the adversaries. Those are all the essential points !

The six competitors have been chosen. There is a crowd of supporters and punters.

1. Marcel : 30 years old, a sturdy guy who is a sportsman, cyclist and mountaineer. He is entering this championship above all as a sporting challenger and in order to win the 1,000 euros.

2. Pierre : 16 years old, very young, a little thin and spindly. He would also really love to win the 1,000 euros. In addition, he loves to wear rubber boots and climbing trees. It is something to do with that which has pushed him to enter.

3. Clément : 23 years old; he is a baker, not at all an athlete. He is well developed but many kilos too much. He believes he can win this championship thanks to a particular strategy.

4. Laurent : 27 years old, computer expert. He is small and agile but above all wily. He loves occasionally going for walks in the forest in rubber boots.

5. Jacques : 40 years old, very stocky and strong, and rather heavy. A farmer, he has always worn rubber boots.

6. François : 42 years old. Quite short and stocky, he always loves climbing with his rubber boots. He knows well the movements to achieve and he also knows the tricks and traps which could make lose the boots.

    Everything is ready. The competitors are on the platform, each holding their pole… The carousel can be started. And it is gone ! The carousel starts to turn. Everyone is looking. The participants rapidly realise two things : first, their feet are quickly bathed in the oil and this makes the boots, which are already too big, really slip on their feet. Then the rubber of their new boots sticks rather well onto this stainless steel pole.

    The speed increases. The metal poles which were, until then, vertical, start to move away from the maypole as well as from the surface of the platform. They all cling to their poles and their boots are really leaning on the metal to give them a relatively good hold. The speed of the carousel increases even more. Our friends are now really even more stretched from the base of the platform and their poles are at an angle of 30 degrees to the maypole.

    The centrifugal force now comes into play. Everyone has the same idea in his head: If I mount the length of the pole towards the top of the maypole, the centrifugal force will be greatly reduced. Marcel sets himself in motion and starts to climb towards the top… The others follow shortly after. They find that it requires an enormous effort to climb against the centrifugal force ; their faces are tense as well as their boots. François loves what he hears and sees : the squeaking of the rubber on the metal, the shining reflections of the new boots under the sun … But prudence is mounting : each time that the boots leave the pole in order to cling on higher, they have a tendency to slip off their feet.

Tournoi de carrousel en Nora, by Martinbottes
Translated by Alan.
Page 1/4 © AMBC, 2009.

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