2015 Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament

The 2015 Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament.

Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt 21st - 22nd February 2015

The 8th Harcourt Park World Invitational Jousting Tournament is being held over the weekend 21st - 22nd February 2015. Without being too clichéd about it, we are planning it to be even better than our previous ones!

The highlight of the event has alwats been our Grail of Chivalry World Invitational Jousting Tournament which features some of the best local and international jousters in the world. We will release our competitor list in due course but we can announce that a former tournament winner and popular Australian jouster Rod Walker heads our ilne up of international stars. Rod has competed at every Harcoirt Park Tournament apart from one. Joining Rod in a line up of some of the best jousters in the world are: Anders Fernstedt from Sweden, Andrew McKinnonfrom Australia, Gunner Cederberg from Sweden, John King from New Zealand, L Dale Walter from the USA,Sarah Hay from Australia and Vikki Subritzky from New Zealand. This will be Gunnar and Dale's first time at the event. The others are all past veterans and for Anders this is his 5th Harcourt Park.

The jousting tournament will also be a bit different this year in that it will be a 14th Century Period Joust. The 14th century was the high point of the jousitng era with a great deal of development both in terms of armour and also the tournament itself as it developed from a war game into a sport. We are very excited about this change as it is our group's period of interest and we have wanted to do a specific 14th century joust for a long time. Expect to see not only some hard hitting jousting but also some excellent 14th century costumes on display!

Alongside the Jousting will be our usual other equestrian dsiaplays of Skill-at-Arms and Mounted Melee.

Attending the event for the first time are professional medieval harpists Wryd Medieval Music from Australia. Music played a big role in the lives of medieval people and we are delighted to be able to add this aspect of the medieval torunament to this year's event.

While jousting was the main tournament sport, other activities were also common at medieval fairs and tournaments. Combat on Foot was another popular tournament event and we are proud to announce that we are hosting the inaugural Pacific Cup which features full contact armoured combat. We had displays of this exciting new international sport at Harcourt Park 2013 and it proved to be very popular with our audience. Since then New Zealand teams have batted above their weight at international competitions in Europe. This will be the first international competition of this new medieval sport held in New Zealand.

Our old favorites will also be there. This includes our popular display of Medieval Battle and our individualMedieval Martial Arts competiton which will this year feature 3 events - dagger fighting, sword and small shieldand long sword. We will also be running a Junior Sword Fighting competition featuring the Order of the Boar'sKnight School students in association with the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy.

Archery was also a popular medieval passtime and it is enjoying a modern revival thanks to films like the "Hungar Games". We are setting up a dedicated archery range adjacent to our main display area so we can feature more archery events including 'have a go' public participation. There will also e our popular Medieval Archery Competitions and Displays featuring some of the best traditional longbow archers in New Zealand.

The main purpose of ot event is to transport you back in time to experience sports and activities that were as popular to our ancestors as rugby and medieval sports are to us today. In order to create a medieval atmosphere, we recreate a Medieval Tent Village around our main display area. In the medieval village you will find displays of medieval crafts, cooking, every life life and other common activities portrayed by New Zealand's best 'living histoy' re-enactors.

The fanastic photos here were taken by our official photographer - Andrew Turner who will also be taking photos of our 2015 Event. You can order photos from the 2013 event here: - ATPhoto and we will post a link to the 2015 photos later this month.

Supporting the event are modern Food, Craft and Beverage stalls to keep you and your family refreshed while you enjoy a day out at the Harcourt Park Medieval Tournament!

Event Details
Date: 21st & 22nd February 2015
Where: Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt.

Follow the event on FaceBook

Free Parking:

In sports fields off Norbett Street, Upper Hutt (next to Harcourt Park).

Entry Costs (per day):

Buy Tickets in advance through EventFinder

• $12 Adults
• $8 Childen under 16 (under 5's are free)
• $30 Family (2 Adults and 2 Children)
Or Pay at the Gate:

• $15 Adults
• $10 Children (under 5 are free)
• $40 Family (2 Adults and 2 Children)
Main Arena Time Table:

0900: Gates open to Public. Warm Ups
1000: Mounted Skill-at-arms/Melee
1100: Medieval Battle Display
1130: Pacific Cup
1200: JOUSTING
1300: Medieval Battle Display
1330: Longbow Display
1400: Pacific Cup
1430: JOUSTING
1530: Medival Battle or Pacific Cup
1600: Prize Giving (Sunday only)

Timetable is for both Saturday/Sunday.

Formal close of each day is around 1600 - 1630

In addition to the above Main Arena Timetable, other displays of medieval combat will be taking place in the Village Arena and the Archery Range.

Notes:

No dogs allowed (dogs and horses do not mix!)

© Scoop Media