There are so many events going on at Jaialdi 2010, but the event sports fans were certain to love was the Basque Games.
Teams from the Basque Country competed for an opportunity to come to Boise and perform in front of one of the biggest Basque populations outside of the Basque Country.
The games opened up with singing and sing-along songs, then the athletes were introduced with even more music and applause.
From there the competition was underway.
The first event involved two athletes from each team placing 15, 8-inch cylinders of wood or wood pegs on the floor in marked spots and then they had to go pick them up. The teams raced and the first one to finish won the game.
The second game featured a 200 pound rock and a rope. One athlete from each team pulled the rock up on a pulley as many times as they could.
What made this event look so cool was that the athletes would raise the rock to the top of the pulley, then time their jump with the rope so they could use all of their body weight to try to pull the rock back up.
The winner pulled the rock up 17 times in a minute and a half.
Another event that was very interesting was the wagon wheel. One participant picks up a wagon, weighing approximately 450 pounds. The athletes would then turn the wagon in a circle as many times as they could. This appeared to be one of the most difficult events of the evening.
There were other unique events that involved cutting wood with an axe and a saw, and there were more challenges that involved carrying weights.
It was certainly a different kind of competition, but one any sports fan could cheer for.
