The World Stone Skimming Championships (Real Sport) Was Hit By A Cheating Scandal After Competitors Tampered With Their Stones To Help Their Bounce

Great entry to the "today I learned" diary, because I don't know a single person who could tell me that they knew there were "world stone skimming championships" before today. But, like any other growing juggernaut of a sports league, they need stars, and controversy, and they sure got it. 

Skipping stones efficiently is a damn near impossible task, and when you see the level these people are doing it at, I have no choice but to support these championships going forward. Apparently there were 2,200 competitors and some of them got caught because their stones were "suspiciously circular", to which I say they do look oddly guilty.

The rules state that the stones have to come straight from naturally occurring island slate, and then they have to go through a device called the "ring of truth" to ensure they fit. Ring of truth sounds like maybe the coolest possible way to determine whether or not something is eligible for competition.

Anyway, this guy Dan Barker does a great job covering the event, and his wife even won the women's title 6 times, leading to a Guinness World Record recognition: 

Apparently this guy skimmed his rock 177 meters, which my American brain has translated to 193 yards, which seems god damn impossible. But there's a reason he's the professional stone skimmer and I'm just the blogger covering it out of intrigue. Just look at the distance on these things:

I've got a lot of questions like how they end up measuring how far they go, how a winner is determined, etc but I'm going to let my world stone skimming championships brain wait until the next tournament.