The weekend of the 28th and 29th of September was, as per yearly tradition, once again reserved for the European championship for Prehistoric Weapons and the World championship of precision spear throwing. For the twelfth time, participants from Switzerland, Austria, Germany and various regions of Italy gathered in Val Senales.
The semi-optimal weather conditions on Saturday did not prevent the archers from putting their skills to the test on the specially constructed tournament side in the “Bodenwald” forest.
The technique behind the craft
What appears to be so easy for professionals, needs a lot of practice, patience, and a big amount of concentration. The ‘aimed’ output is a fusion between archer and bow that (in the best case) gets rewarded by hitting the (red) mark. Of course, technique is not the be-all and end-all. The bows and arrows, often painstakingly handmade by the archers themselves, also influence whether an arrow hits or misses.
The Weekend
Yet the competition is by no means the main focus. As every year, the opportunity was used to catch up with old friends, to share stories and to meet new faces. The first day of the contest was concluded by the award ceremony for the archery contest and followed up by a shared dinner in the village hall, a so-called South Tyrolian “Törggelen”, consisting of Sauerkraut, sausages, and a typical dessert.
Sunday brought much better weather conditions and participants were able to compete in the spear throw competition and the World Atlatl Association contest The award ceremony for these categories simultaneously marked the end of this year’s championship weekend and the relaxed get-together was a chance to reflect on the past few days and bring them to a close.
Results
Click here for the overall result!
The archeoParc team congratulates all the winners and participants of this year’s contest, and cordially invites everyone to the 13th edition of the European championship for Prehistoric Weapons on 27/28 September 2025!
Eager to try out archery for yourself?
On the archery range in the outdoor area of our museum, you can put your skills to the test!
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