World Championship returns to Polson

After a three-year hiatus, the Ken Avison World Rock-Skipping Championship returns to its birthplace June 3.

“This is Big. I got to play in a national championship game. This is bigger than that. This is the WORLD championships.”

– Kevin Avison, former College All-American.

“I’ve seen some big rides at the National Finals. This is that level pressure.”

– Trevor “Sundown” Motichka, former bull-rider and still ambulatory

“If Jim Thorpe were alive, he would be here. The stage is that big.”

– Steve Lozar, local seer and sage, and former Hawaii Rainbow and Sac State star safety

Competition begins at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 3, at Riverside Park. See full schedule below. The procession from the Cove to Riverside Park will be led by bagpipers per royal tradition. The four categories include young and old, men and women.

This is a BYOR event (bring your own rocks).

Professional judging is provided. The crowd is expected to be in the thousands or perhaps dozens. Many spectators show up to watch celebrities.

The Championships were last held in 2019, with all proceeds going to the ice-rink fund. A three-year hiatus was due to the pandemic and then the passing of the founder, beloved community leader Ken ‘The Colonel’ Avison.

This event was Ken’s brainchild, so the Colonel’s Rules apply, including: anyone contesting the correct skip numbers is given a re-throw, but the contestant must use the same rock.

The Colonel was described as a Montana Original, though he was Canadian and not really a colonel. That sobriquet was given him for no apparent reason by his good friend Bud Bras, when Ken was Hot Springs Superintendent of Schools. It surprised some that Bud gave a positive nickname or even remained Ken’s friend, for to be his friend was to endure some of the most diabolical practical jokes ever known. Like the time Bud found discarded Christmas trees all over his parking lot at the Lone Pine Store.

When Bud saw guys throwing more trees off a pickup, he asked what they were doing. They pointed to an ad in the paper: “Christmas tree collection point: drop trees off on the parking lot of Lone Pine Store.”

Or the Sunday morning during a snowstorm when Bud’s phone rang repeatedly with elderly people asking for the free snowplowing service before church, as advertised in the paper. Or, after the unsolved ATM heist in Polson, a fellow showed up at Bud and Dot’s house brandishing an apparent FBI badge, and interviewed them about the “Bras Gang.”

The Championships are put on by Ken’s wife, Tammy, and sons, Kevin and Ryan. All proceeds go to the Ken Avison Memorial Scholarship, to help local graduates go on to college or vocational training.

We hope you will join us to celebrate the Colonel’s passion for education, humor, camaraderie, competition and community.

Schedule

9:00-9:30 Registration – at the Cove

9:30-9:45 Rules Clinic

9:45 Bagpipe-led Procession

9:55 Opening Ceremonies

10:00 Competition Begins

11:00 Awards Ceremony – Pizza and Pop at the Cove

Registration Fees: 12 and under, $15; 13 and older, $20; Family, $50 (includes pizza and pop)

Jim Manley was appointed Deputy Lake County Attorney in 1978. He retired as District Court Judge in 2022. In the years between he tried cases all over Montana, was past President of Montana Trial Lawyers Assoc., voted 2009 Montana Trial Lawyer of the year, and was inducted into both the American Board of Trial Advocacy (ABOTA) and The International Society of Barristers (ISOB). He has also been known to judge the World Rock Skipping Championship.