WINDSOR — You’d think the Ladies Fry Pan Throwing Contest at the annual Windsor Fair is pretty simple, not requiring much technique or thought.
But Ingrid Prikryl, 33, of Windsor, sitting with China residents Lori Hawk and Becky Hapgood after she won her age group this afternoon, with a throw of 69 feet, begs to differ.
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“They leaked me the secret,” the second-year participant said of Hawk and Hapgood.
Don’t bother asking what the secret is, though. That’s among the three of them.
Hapgood — 43 and the overall champion in 2011 — would only say, “rollers go out of bounds.”
The contest doesn’t have too many rules. There are four age groups and each woman gets to throw twice. Throwers keep the distance of their best toss, minus the pan’s distance from a line down the middle of the course.
Contest organizer Karen Foster said the two nearly 2-pound steel skillets are custom-made in Fryeburg.
They cost $150 apiece, she said, but they’re durable. The fair has used them in each of the five years that it has held the contest. Other fairs use cast iron, Foster said, but handles often break off because of the wear and tear.
If the pan rolls out of bounds or the thrower steps over the board at the front of the course, that throw is disqualified from the final total.
Kelly Keezer, 27, of South China, found that out the hard way today. Both of her throws rolled out of bounds.
Her friend, Kelley Mullens, 27, of Windsor, also underachieved, tossing one pan a net distance of 41 feet, after a more-than-55-foot showing last year.
Both blamed the weather. It was above 80 degrees and sunny this afternoon at the fair, and there was little shade around the course.
“You can’t get the grip you usually get,” Keezer said.
“It’s hot,” Mullens added. “You just don’t have that energy.”
Foster said 65 women particpated in the event today, down from 77 last year but in keeping with numbers from past years.
Keezer gave a clue as to why.
“It gets your frustration out, to an extent,” she said. “I have a lot, but I still didn’t do good.”
But “the secret” worked wonders for Prikryl today. She won her age group by inches over Hapgood, who took second.
Then she nipped Hawk, 52, in the overall championship, winning the title of “grand champion,” a trophy, ribbon and a $50 check.
“I got lucky,” Prikryl said. “I sat with the right people.”
Michael Shepherd — 621-5632
mshepherd@mainetoday.com
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