Top jousters from Germany, the USA and the UK will compete for international glory in the tournament’s 25th year.
This Easter bank holiday weekend, the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds will host its annual International Jousting Tournament, marking 25 years of the global spectacle at the museum. From Friday 18 to Monday 21 April 2025, visitors will experience this very real, medieval extreme sport.
The four-day tournament, which will see thousands of passionate fans pack out the museum’s purpose-built jousting arena, features eight competitive bouts of extreme equestrianism, with six highly-skilled athletes attempting to strike opponents with a 10-foot lance at speeds of up to 30mph.
Riders representing the UK, Emma Pearn and Mike Collin will be looking to build on their successful partnership at the museum having won our most recent joust in August 2024.
They will be facing stiff competition from German duo Bernd Joachim Voigt and Stephan Weiss and challengers Vince Todd and Kyle Van Dolah-Evans from the US.
This year’s tournament marks 25 years since the first invitational International competition of competitive modern jousting held at the museum in Leeds. The referee or ‘Knight Marshall’ for this competition, Gordon Summers actually jousted in that inaugural tournament in 2000.
With a major new exhibition opening this summer, this Easter will be fan’s only opportunity to catch jousting in Leeds in 2025.
This is the only jousting tournament taking place at the Royal Armouries Museum in 2025. Tickets cost £5 – £20 (Free carers tickets available). For more information visit the website.
This post is based on a press release issued by the Royal Armouries Museum
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