He’s behind you!…Jack Pinson and Brendan Halpin set for battle at the Kerry County Museum. Photo by Dermot Crean
IF you were driving from south Kerry yesterday, you may have passed a couple of gentlemen dressed in full medieval armoury, hitchhiking on the road.
No, you weren’t hallucinating, it was two lads from Medieval Armoured Combat Ireland who are raising awareness of their efforts to head to Poland next month as part of the Irish Full Contact Medieval Combat Team for the World Championships.
The two called into Kerry County Museum on Tuesday morning where they met schoolchildren and gave them a short history lesson on medieval combat, before giving us a demonstration of the full contact ‘sport’ (see video below).
Jack Pinson explained what they were at when TraleeToday.ie caught up with him at the tourist attraction.
“Our organisation is Medieval Armoured Combat Ireland (MAC) and we aim to take part in the World Championship Event in Poland at the end of April. It’s the first time Ireland will be represented as a nation,” said Jack, who is living in Clare, but from Southampton originally.
He and his fellow ‘knight’, Brendan Halpin from Cork, decided to hitchhike from Waterville yesterday and made their way to Tralee. It must have been tough getting a lift?
“Well we weren’t waiting much longer that 20 minutes at any stage so it bodes well. One gentleman who picked us up said ‘I don’t know who’s madder; me for picking you up or you for doing this’. We’re eventually aiming to get to the battle site of Knockdoe near Claregalway which was the site of one of the largest and bloodiest battles in Ireland in 1504,” said Jack.
As you can see from the video and photo, the lads really into it and getting the armour can be a pricey business with the equipment mainly coming from the US and eastern Europe.
“The full kit with armour and weapons can come in at between €1,500 and €2,000. It takes a level of commitment from that point of view I suppose,” he said.
The guys are well kitted out for this so it’s not as dangerous as it looks.
“You’d feel the blows, but you wouldn’t be hurt. The blades and all the weapons are dulled as they would have been in medieval times for tournaments, soit’s not that different from back then,” he said.
“There’s no pulling back on blows. It’s full contact. We can choose weapons like swords and shields, maces, two handed-swords, pole weapons,” said Jack.
The lads gave us a demonstration of a medieval fight (below) outside the museum. before hitting the road again with the thumbs out.
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