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Big European Throwers Meeting

promoted by Knifethrowing.info and Axtwerfen.de and Eurothrowers.org

To promote the exchange between axe- and knife throwers in Europe, the European Throwing Club Flying Blades (Eurothrowers) has established the "Big European Throwers Meeting". Every year, a different meeting in a different European country is designated to bear this title, the event is traditionally scheduled to be the annual meeting place for throwers from all over Europe.

To understand why the Big European Throwers Meeting is really the most important event for knife throwers and axe throwers each year, just read the reports about the last years' events.

In 2008, the event was held in Chomutov / Czech Republic, in 2009 it will take place near Paris, and in 2010 it is scheduled to be in Italy.

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The EuroThrowers association is happy to announce that this year's most important meeting for European knife- and axe throwers will be held in France, a country with a very active throwing community. The event is organised by the association members Bernadette and Dominique Gagnon, the location is near Fontainebleau, a former royal residence. Paris is 65km near.

As usual, the foremost purpose of the throwers meeting is to bring knife throwers and axe throwers from all over Europe together, for some days of fun throwing in a very relaxed atmosphere. To meet friends and make friends. To learn new throwing tricks. Of course, there will be a competition. And the quiet French landscape is just about the perfect place to spend some additional and delicious leisure days. Or, if you prefer, have a stay in Paris on your way back.

Please find all details concerning rules, your travel and stay below on this page. The hotels in the area are well in demand, so it is advisable to book as early as possible. Meals at the competition area have to be booked beforehand, see registration.

Many throwers from all over Europe (and even from the US) have announced their participation already. I would be glad to meet you there!

  Christian Thiel

Registration

To easy our planning, please register as soon as possible. Non-binding registrations are also possible.

The organisers do provide French meals at the competition area. Those have to be booked bindingly until July 1st, at a price of 18 Euros each.

Registration Form

Location

Hameau de Villeflambeau
77710 Villeflambeau
(District: Lorrez-le-Bocage-Préaux)
France

The competition area is near the address "Rue de Ferrottes 11", where the organisers, Bernadette and Dominique Gagnon, live.

Location of the competition area on a route planner map.

How to get there

By car: Villeflambeau is located south-east of Fontainebleau, at the intersection of the roads D219 and D123. Fontainebleau is located 1h south of Paris. For you convenience, a link to an online route planner is provided just above.

By train: The name of the nearest train station is Montereau, located 15km north of Villeflambeau. The commute time from Paris (Gare de Lyon) is around 1h. To consult schedules and buy tickets, please go to Deutsche Bahn or SNCF. Please note that tickets can be bought at the end of June at the earliest.
(In the English language version of the SNCF pages, tickets can only be bought for Paris as final destination. It is no problem to pick up a ticket for the remaining trip once there.)

The organisers can arrange to have you picked up in Montereau. Please send your arrival time and train number to Christian Thiel in advance. For short-term changes, find below the phone numbers of the local contact persons.

By airplane: The nearest international airport is Paris. Continue from there by train.

Knife laws

Knives, even pocket knives with lockable blades, are classified as weapons of the 6th category in France. As such, they may only be transported in a locked container, be it a locked suitcase or a toolbox with a padlock.
If you are traveling through Germany, don't bring any throwing stars or butterfly knives. "Boxing" is also obligatory for knives in Germany.
For the flight, of course you have to put all your steely stuff into the checked baggage. I never received reports about problems with the customs. Some people print out this website and lay it on top of the knives, to give the customs officers a plausible explanation.

Contact persons

The local contacts for the event are Bernadette and Dominique Gagnon. They speak French only. (In case of emergency, I guess they will be able to contact one of the foreign throwers on site for a translation.)

For any questions relating to travel and accommodation, I'll be happy to assist, just contact me. Do note that around 5 days before the meeting, I'll be in France already, unable to respond to emails.

Schedule

Friday, the 11th of September is reserved for arrival and getting to know the other throwers.
The competitions will start on Saturday at 9:30 o'clock in the morning.
The long distance events are scheduled for Sunday, starting at 9:30 o'clock, followed by the award ceremony. Afterwards, there will be the members meetings of the EuroThrowers association.

Accommodation, Fees, Provisions

The starting fee is 4 Euros per event (thus, a total of 40 Euros for all events, if desired).

Meals will be prepared at the competition site for Saturday noon, Saturday evening, and Sunday noon. But, these must be booked bindingly before July first.

Villeflambeau is a small town devoid of shops. For self-caterers, there is a supermarket in some kilometers distance.

The standard way of accommodation is camping out on site in tents you brought along.

Of course there are hotels in some kilometers distance, but they are well in demand and booked up early. The cheapest alternative, and even closer to the competition area than any hotel, is to rent one of the vacation houses there together with other throwers (if you are interested, send an email).

Hotels:
No guarantee here. Double rooms are only slightly more expensive than single rooms.

• Les Tremieres, Chambre d’ Hôtes, 23 rue des Prés, Preaux, Lorrez le Bocage; Tel: +33 1 64 31 41 51;
  Distance 7km, Single room 52 Euro;
• Hôtel du lion d’or, 2 Av du Gâtinais, 77000 Bransles; Tel: +33 1 64 29 55 05;
  Distance 14km
• Nuit D'hotel, Route Petit Fossard, 77940 Esmans; Tel: +33 1 64 70 27 65;
  Distance 15km
• Hôtel Formule 1, Lieu-dit "Saint Lazare", 77250 ECUELLES, Tel: +33 891705326;
  Distance 15km, Single room 32 Euro;

Vacation Houses / Gite de France

As mentioned above, renting an entire house or flat is an excellent possibility for groups of throwers (who possibly found together for this purpose). Contrary to the hotels, some of those houses are near the competition area! A price example for a 6-person-flat (separate beds), 3 nights: 260 Euro total;

The vacation homes can be found via Gites-de-France.com (Commune/Town: Lorrez le Bocage), and booked directly at:

Centrale Gite de France, Seine et Marne
TOURISME 77 TRAVEL
9-11, rue Royale
77300 Fontainebleau
France
Tel: +33 1 60 39 60 53
Email: gites@tourisme77.fr

Most interesting is the house/Gite number 16. It's first floor (number 26) is already occupied by a group of throwers. The Gites number 4 and 96 are also only some kilometers away.

Rules

The rules employed will be the Standard European Knife and Axe throwing rules (as PDF for printing), with the additional event "axe long distance normal (min. weight 500g)".

Thus, there will be a total of 8 events: Knife 3m, 5m, 7m, long distance; Axe 4m, 7m, long distance light (min. 290g) and long distance normal (min. 500g);