The
"Lysts on the Great Lakes" invitational jousting tournament will take place August 10 and 11 at the
Wayne County Fairgrounds in Belleville, Michigan, USA. This event is affiliated with
a'Plaisance Ltd, the producer of the largest contemporary competitive jousting tournaments in the world, and is sanctioned by both the International Jousting Association and
International Jousting League.
This tournament will be run as both a team and an individual event, and will include both mounted skill at arms(MSA) as well as jousting competitions. The jousting competitions will occur at 4pm on Friday and Saturday, and the MSA will begin at 1pm on Saturday. There will be a public meet and greet on Thursday, August 9, at 4pm during the practice session for all the competitors . The teams portion of the event will consists of the
Knights of Iron Jousting Team vs the North American International Jousters Team.
The jousters for the Knights of Iron will be:
L Dale Walter
Dale was one of the first jousters in North America, beginning his career in the early 80's. After a long layoff, Dale returned to the sport in 2010 and jousted 29 days in 2011 across the USA and Canada. It is rumored that he is the “real" Tony Stark of Ironman fame as in addition to wearing a suit of armor, he owns a company that designs and builds military weapons systems. Dale lives in Howell, Michigan on his horse farm
The Excalibur Horse Center where he trains his joust team
“The Knights of Iron”. Dale's motto is: Aut Viam Inveniam aut Faciam ("I Will Either Find a Way or Make One")
(photo by
Jay Baum)
Andre Renier
André Lee Renier began jousting in 1983, allowing him to merge his interests in history, science, and technology with his love of horses. A scholar, researcher and accomplished equestrian; he is a modern knight mixing his passions for history, horses and the games of antiquity. He is currently researching jousting and equestrian armor and working on a book on the history of horse training. Andre is the Director at
WEC Institute, one of the nation's leading nonprofit, high tech, science and technology research organizations. Andre's motto is: Noblis in Verbi et Facti ("Noble in Word and Deed")
(photo by Dale Walter)
Kellyn Burtka
Kellyn has been riding and showing horses since childhood, and started her career as a professional trainer in 2000. She has always valued versatility in riding, and has competed in various equestrian sports including jumping, eventing, dressage, western pleasure, barrel racing and driving. She sees jousting as a new and exciting discipline for her and her horse to explore. Kellyn's motto is: Potius Ingenio Quam Vi ("Rather by Skill than by Force")
(photo by
AzulOx)
Jason Edwards Monarch
J Edwards Monarch has wanted to be a knight since he was a child. He began this journey with brooms, trash can lids and tin foil cardboard armor at the age of eight. Over the years, he has worked at various Renaissance Festivals and medieval shows, done various sword shows, and started one of the largest LARP games in the mid-west. He is a member of the
Society for Creative Anachronism and of the
Ars Gladii western martial arts school. He has jousted professionally and for competition since 1991. He is also a member of the
Team USA Battle of the Nations combat team for armored competition. An avid living history buff, he dabbles in almost every time period from the 1st Crusade to the American Civil War. He has appeared in television shows doing technical jousting and teaches European medieval combat arts. He lives in Michigan on a farm with a jousting school, along with his lovely wife, four children, several jousting horses, goats, dogs, cats, chickens and one ornery turkey. His motto is: Polleo Atqui Humilis ("Be Strong Yet Humble")
(photo by
Dove Photography LLC)
The North American International Jousters are:
Steve Hemphill
Steve fondly remembers his father teaching him how to respect, train and ride the family’s horses. In the 1980's, he became interested in medieval and renaissance history while he was attending college, and in 2003, Steve decided to renew his interest in horses and to combine it with his love of medieval history. Since then, he has produced and competed in a number of medieval equestrian events around the world which showcased competitive jousting and other medieval equestrian sports. Steve is a member of the Board of Representatives of the International Jousting League and a level 2 Jouster with the International Jousting Association. He is the owner of a’Plaisance, Ltd. and the Executive Producer of the “Lysts on the Lake”. When Steve is not involved with jousting, he can be found competing in Dressage and Eventing. Steve's motto is: Unus sed Leo ("One but a Lion")
(photo by
Jay Baum)
Nikki Fourtzialas
Nikki is a member of, and US Liaison to, the
International Jousting Association (IJA), a co-founder of the New England Jousting Association (NEJA) and the
Academy of Knightly Arts. Nikki competes in events with the IJA, NEJA,
Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), and
International Jousting League (IJL). She rides a 19.1 hand, 8 Year old Percheron named Grassy Notch Thunder Ripper(AKA Thunder), a big horse with a big heart. Professionally she is a desk jockey, Senior V.P. of a technology division for the financial services industry. Jousting and Sword fighting have proven to be great stress management tools in her life. Nikki's motto is: Tu Canis Est, Ut Omnes ("Is That All You Got, Dog")
(photo by The Jousting Life)
Jordon Heron
Jordan Heron has always been fascinated with things medieval, and his involvement in historical re-creation goes back well over three decades. Although interested in horses from a young age, Jordan was city born and raised, so he didn't learn to ride until relatively late in life, when he rashly bought a horse and quickly moved from pleasure riding to medieval gaming. Jordan's first joust tournament was in 2003. Since that time he has competed in seven countries on three continents. Jordan is a certified Project Manager by career, and his partner, Dr. Stephanie Campbell, is an anatomy professor and student veterinarian and they live in Dunnville, Ontario, Canada. Together they own
Cricket Lane Farm, home to their equestrian activities: gaming, jousting, mounted archery, riding to hounds, quarter horse racing and, just lately, Cowboy Action Shooting.
(photo by
Astrid Adelskold)
Dale Gienow
Dale Gienow is the founding president of the
International Jousting Association – Canada. He has been jousting since 2004 and has run many tournaments in Canada. Dale enjoys many other medieval pursuits, including archery and the ancient art of falconry. He is a founding member of the
Mounted Archery Association of the Americas and a Mounted Martial Instructor for the
Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts. Dale lives with his son in Bracebridge, Ontario, where he owns the
Muskoka Wildlife Centre and co-directs
Chivalric Productions, a medieval education company.
(photo by Chivalric Productions)
In an interesting twist, during the MSA competition, the experienced jousters will act as ground crew for the less experienced squires and novices first. Then later, things will go back to normal with the experienced jousters competing while the squires and novices act as the -- so very essential -- ground crew. During the MSA, the jousters will compete wearing jerseys in the colors of their livery with their name on the back. These jerseys will be provided by the tournament.
The tournament will also provide each competitor with an ecranche so that all competitors will have the same size target to aim at. The ecranches will be painted with the competitors colors and will have their names on the front. The lances will be the standard IJA/IJL 8 foot shaped wood base with a 3 foot balsa tip. However, the standard rules have been modified so that points may only be scored if the lance hits the ecranche first -- no primary hit anywhere else will be scored. The scoring will be as follows:
1 point: if the lance hits the target
2 points: if the tip of the lance breaks but remains attached to the rest of the lance
3 points: if the tip of the lance breaks and falls completely off so that the coronel lands on the ground
There will be no points awarded for unhorsings.
Throughout the tournament, broken lance tips will be available in exchange for a donation to
The Fallen and Wounded Soldiers Fund, which assists wounded veterans in the Michigan area.
For updated information on this tournament, check out the
"Lysts on the Great Lakes" Facebook event page.
