Dawn came to this beautiful place known as Estes Park Colorado on the morning of September 8, 2001. My wife Brenda gently woke me.

"You'll never guess what you'll see outside the window," she said.

"Elk," I replied. As I looked out, an unexpected sight was revealed to me. There lay three to four inches of snow on the ground, and it was still snowing! As one might imagine, this is not the ideal conditions in which to hold a jousting tournament.

Fortunately, the weather could not dampen the spirits of the organizers, participants, or spectators of the Longs Peak Scottish/Irish Highland Festival! This included the Knights and Warriors of the American Jousting Alliance.

Our opening ceremonies performance, which took place on the nearby athletic field, was a real crowd pleaser, even with snow covering the grass field.

My thanks to our English guests, from the Nottingham Jousting Association, Sam Humphrey, Stuart Humphrey, Mark Humphrey, Edward Kopel and Wixie. I would also like to thank our American performers, Californian Steve Adams, and hailing from the State of Texas, Dustin Stephens and Jerry Gordon. In spite of the weather, all of these people did a superb job of entertaining the large crowd on hand for the opening.

It started snowing again once we began the Tournament. It snowed for the entire two hours that the Tournament was taking place. Not one of the competitors wanted to quit. It was great working with such a tough group of Knights.

The wet shields seemed to cause more lances to ricochet off, although all competitors were handling their equipment safely. Shield presentation and lance tips veering into unsafe areas were keenly observed by our Judges. Points were deducted for improper handling of either shield or lance.

For the first time in this tournament's history, most of the Warhorses ridden had less than a year's experience in jousting. The exception was Steve Emmett's Belgian cross, Avalon. Avalon was ridden by at least four different people during the two day tournament. Horses that were newcomers to the sport, the Percheron, Zeus, the Shire cross, Brutus, and the Clydesdale, Boomer, all showed very well under the guidance of their riders.

Top honors as the champion of the International Jousting Championships went to the young Englishman, Mark Humphrey, riding Zeus. Mark was extremely focused with many consistent and safe hits to his credit. Edward Kopel and Jerry Gordon placed second and third, respectively. Both demonstrated skill and horsemanship in the lists. The Texan, Dustin Stephens, won first in both the Ring Spearing and Quintain Hitting. Spear Throwing competition was won by Stuart Humphrey. Stuart handled our Percheron cross, Ariel, with all the finesse of a true horseman.

This tournament included 16 jousting matches with one unhorsing and no injuries. This is an accomplishment that every competitor contributed to, and one to be very proud of. Jousting does not have to include injuries to be an exciting and crowd pleasing sport.

A special thank you goes to the fine English Gentleman (and father of winner, Mark Humphrey) Sam Humphrey. Sam's excellence in announcing and heralding was beyond compare. Sam is a second generation jousting performer with the Nottingham Jousting Association. We have had many interesting conversations on jousting over the last four years. It was my pleasure to meet and work with him in person after all these years. It was with great delight that we (Sam and I) were able to present an exhibition Joust a' Pleasance at the conclusion of this tournament!

My thanks to all our Competitors, Staff, and Crew for a truly enjoyable and respectful Tournament.

May Chivalry Live On!

James Zoppe
Founder and Director
American Jousting Alliance

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