SONORA — If Charlie Andrews has his way, professional jousting competitions will one day pack stadiums with the kind of crowds seen at football games.
The world champion of full-contact heavy armored jousting and his Knights of Mayhem will perform this weekend at the Sonora Celtic Faire. The competition will be filmed by National Geographic Television for a new reality series tentatively titled "Knights of Mayhem."
"What people can expect in Sonora is bodies will hit the ground," Andrews said. "People will be getting hit and people will be coming off their horses. You will see broken lance pieces flying everywhere."
A Chukchansi Indian tribe member, Andrews stands 6 feet 4 inches tall and is one of four founding members of heavy armored jousting. He also co-founded the Ultimate Jousting Championship.
"It's my greatest passion right now," said the 42-year-old. "To build the sport, that's the big thing for me. The Renaissance fairs are a blast, the Celtic fairs are fun. The tournaments are where it's at."
A resident of Eagle Mountain, Utah, Andrews learned about jousting about 10 years ago through the horse-training world. Once, a man visited his job site saying he wanted to start a jousting troupe.
"He said, 'I love watching you ride. You're big and are a perfect knight,' " Andrews said. "He talked me into doing it."
Andrews, who had formerly worked as a cowboy and in rodeo, took to the medieval sport right away. He wasn't attracted to it because of the tales of King Arthur and Camelot, but because of the raw power of the action.
"No. 1, I love my horses, so doing anything with them is fun," Andrews said. "Being in a partnership with your horse and smashing the other guy with your lance is pretty exhilarating. Then there's everything that comes with it — the roar of the crowd, everyone coming down and signing autographs."
It takes a certain type of person to be an effective jouster. Andrews said the best knights weigh more than 200 pounds and are highly skilled with horses. They not only need trained horses to participate, but $5,000 worth of armor.
Andrews stays strong by practicing mixed martial arts and lifting weights. He said the knights race toward each other at speeds of 25 miles per hour.
"It's like two cars getting in a head-on collision right in front of you," Andrews said. "You can't explain that to someone in words. You've got to be there and see it and hear it and feel it."
Andrews said jousting is one of the hardest things he has ever done.
"It's man against man," he said. "I played rugby, and rugby's a pretty savage sport, and this is beyond that."
RSS
E-Mail
Print
reprint or license
