Ovasinax
OVASINAX is a newly invented sport (created by Jerome and Lucy Siromani, March 2013). The game is a team sprint race, which is run across three "laps" of a swimming pool, with a man carrying a woman on his shoulders. The name of the sport, Ovasinax, is pronounced “Oh-Vay-Sin-Axe”, and is based on the phrase "ovanpå sin axlar" - Swedish for "atop his shoulders".
Game Basics
- The game is a sprint race, which is run across three "laps" of a pool that is (or is similar to) a Short Course Swimming Pool.
- Three teams (each team consists of one man and one woman) take part in each Race Heat, with each team having one of the three Lanes in the Pool for itself.
- In every Race Heat - each team races up and down the Pool, three times (i.e. they complete three "laps"), thus covering around 3 X 80 = 240 feet in total.
- In the first "lap" (of around 80 feet) - the female partner stands on top of her male partner's shoulders (and, the male partner can grip only her legs); in the next two "laps" - the female partner sits on the shoulders of her male partner.
- The male partner runs up and down the Pool (total of 3 X 80 = 240 feet); the first team to complete all three "laps" in their Race Heat wins that particular Heat.
Equipment Required
- A Swimming Pool that is about 80 feet (approximately 25 meters) in length, with water that is about 3 & 1/2 feet (approximately 1 meter) deep.
- Rubber padding all over the concrete rim of the Pool (to cushion falls and prevent injury).
- Two rubber partitions that run the length of the Pool, and which divide the Pool into three equally-sized Lanes.
- A complicated buzzer/bell contraption on the rubber padding at each end of each Lane of the Pool - this contraption can only be touched by someone sitting on another person's shoulders (stacked cardboard boxes with concealed call-bells within them are commonly used as the buzzer/bell systems).
- Stop-watches to record times.
Regulations
- Every competitor must be 18 years of age, or older.
- The female partner must ring the buzzer/bell, at the end of each "lap".
- In case of a fall during any of the "laps" in a Race Heat, that particular team must re-start that particular "lap" from the beginning.
- To prevent unfair advantages to any team - the female partner must weigh, at least, two-thirds of the weight of her male partner; also - each partner in every team must be, at least, 5 feet tall, and must weigh, at least, 110 pounds.
- If the first two teams finish a particular Race Heat at the same time, the team in which the female partner is relatively heavier is the winner of that Heat.
Special “Bonus” Relay Race
- A "Bonus” Relay Race is run at the end of all major events (as long as the numbers of competitors are sufficient) - in this, the top nine couples from the main event become three teams (each team has three couples) with each couple running one of the three “laps” for its team; the only different rule in this case - the third “lap” is a stand-on-shoulders “lap” (just like the first “lap”), and only the second “lap” is a sit-on-shoulders “lap”.
Beach Version
- A very few beaches with ocean stretches of gently-increasing depth and firm footing permit Ovasinax to be played on them; the rules in this case are identical, except – each of the three teams in a Race Heat races between buoys in the deeper part of the ocean and a double-flag flagpole in the shallower part of the ocean (rather than using any buzzer/bell, the female partner hoists a flag on the two occasions when she reaches the flagpole).
Official Website
Note
Related Pages
- See the similar Wife Carrying Competition and Chicken Fight (piggyback fighting in the water)
- Other new sports
- Complete list of unusual sports
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