Here's the horseshoe pitch
By NICK NARIGON
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Ken Oakes, center, makes a pitch at the new Marengo horseshoe courts Friday, May 29. Looking on are Ron Stanerson and Jake Griggs. |
The clink of horseshoes rattling around an iron pole can be heard every night in Marengo city park.
The Marengo horseshoe league held its inaugural tournament Monday, June 8.
The Marengo league has eight teams of three, for a total of 24 members. The league will run for seven weeks.
The winning team for week one was the Oakes Operatives with a record of 3-1 and 365 total points. The Stanerson Stakers came in second with a record of 3-1 and 330 total points.
Ron Stanerson had the highest total for one game with 66 points. Deb Recker had the highest game for women with a score of 35.
The league meets every Monday night at 5:45 p.m. at the brand new horseshoe courts in the city park area south of the Iowa Valley Elementary School and next to the rolle bolle courts.
Ron Stanerson, Marengo, began working on the horseshoe courts a year ago after he was approached by the Marengo Sesquicentennial Committee to organize horseshoe tournaments for the July 2-5 celebration.
The 56 by 72 foot area consists of six regulation size horseshoe courts. Stanerson said a chain link fence was built around the courts last week in order for it to be eligible to host sanctioned tournaments.
During the Marengo Sesquicentennial celebration, the horseshoe courts will host several events.
The official ribbon cutting for the courts will be held July 3 at 10 a.m. Present will be the president, vice president and secretary of the Iowa Hawkeye Horseshoe Pitchers Association. A horseshoe pitching demonstration will follow featuring the top four horseshoe pitchers in the state of Iowa. One of the featured players won the state title seven times and is ranked 24th in the world.
There will then be an opportunity for the public to participate in the open court pitching, and then the horseshoe pitch and win competition will headline the event.
UPDATED June 10, 2009 10:57 AM