THE Mayors of Ennis and Clare this week joined the Clare Cystic Fibrosis Association in ‘lumbering up’ to launch the third annual Irish Christmas Tree Throwing Championship.
The event, which is based on age-old lumberjack traditions and is commonplace across Germany and Austria, will see members of the public competing to achieve the longest distance for throwing a standard 1.5 metre tree.
Organisers, Ennis Town Council and Clare County Council are hoping to make the January 5 event at Active Ennis Tim Smyth Park a record breaker. Last year’s winner, John O’Dea from Limerick launched a Christmas tree 10.2 metres, just less than 2 metres short of the World Record held by Klaus Pubnaz who hurled a tree a distance of 12m at an event in Germany three years ago.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.