The mother of all snowball fights

The mother of all snowball fights 12/02/2010

If launching snowballs on a non-competitive basis at your friends and family is simply not enough for you, then take it up a notch and head to Finland next month for the European Championships of Yukigassen. Between 26th and 28th March, the competition, which uses the Japanese word for snowball fight in its title, will take place in the country's northernmost town of Kemijärvi and will welcome tourists for the 15th time.

Yukigassen is played as follows. Two teams of 7 to ten aim their 270 pre-prepared machine made snowballs at each other and try and force their opponents off the court during three three-minute periods. The game was invented in northern Japanese town of Sobetsu in 1987 and first appeared in Europe fifteen years ago and has spread around the Nordic countries as well as to Australia and Canada.

Registration for this year's tournament must be in by 12th March and there is a 150? fee per team, which will be in one of three categories: amateur, those that qualified for the Championships and school children. For more information and to sign up log on to the Yukigassen Finland website.

The Editorial Team.

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