Goodable

The NHL's Anaheim Ducks partnered with Make-A-Wish to make 12-year-old Jackson Lewis-Rodriguez’s dreams come true. Jackson, who has a serious heart condition, was in uniform with his favorite team and led the Ducks onto the ice for the start of the game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Jackson's condition requires him to have a pacemaker. He signed a contract with the Ducks and practiced with the team at Great Park Ice in Irvine, Calif.

The NHL's Anaheim Ducks partnered with Make-A-Wish to make 12-year-old Jackson Lewis-Rodriguez’s dreams come true. Jackson, who has a serious heart condition, was in uniform with his favorite team and led the Ducks onto the ice for the start of the game against the Vegas Golden Knights. Jackson's condition requires him to have a pacemaker. He signed a contract with the Ducks and practiced with the team at Great Park Ice in Irvine, Calif.

Watch: The Anaheim Ducks Just Helped Make This Make-A-Wish Dream Come True

The Guardian

David Keohan walked across a County Waterford beach and spotted what he was looking for, an oval limestone boulder weighing about 115 kg, half buried in sand. He pried it loose with a crowbar, dusted it off, chalked his hands and then lifted it in a slow, deliberate sequence that ended with the stone pressed to his chest before he let it drop back onto the sand.

It was not a stunt. It was a demonstration of an Irish tradition that had almost vanished. Keohan, better known online as Indiana Stones, has become the unlikely figure bringing stone lifting back into national consciousness and drawing global attention along the way. “It’s not just about strength. Every single lifting stone has an amazing story attached to it,” he said. “It’s opened up a whole culture that was lost.”

Stone lifting was once woven into Irish life. Communities used boulders to test strength and mark important moments. Some stones were lifted at funeral games, some during harvest celebrations, others when a chieftain rose to power. In one case, lifting a stone served as a kind of job interview for stonemasons. A stone raised a few inches was called “getting the wind under it”. Reaching the knees meant champion status. Hoisting one to the chest made you a phenomenon spoken about for generations.

Guided by folklore, community tips and the National Folklore Collection, Keohan has now identified 53 lifting stones across beaches, graveyards and fields. He believes dozens more are out there. Lifting one today, he said, connects you to everyone who ever managed the same feat. “Isn’t that amazing?”

Keohan discovered the practice during the pandemic. When gyms shut in 2020, the former kettlebell champion used stones in his garden for training. He became more interested after learning about stone lifting traditions in Scotland, Iceland and the Basque region, and eventually travelled to Scotland to attempt the 127 kg Fianna stone. “It was strength, mythology, history. I fell in love with it.”

A fictional story helped steer him to one of Ireland’s real stones. After reading Liam O’Flaherty’s 1937 short story The Stone, he found a pink granite boulder on Inishmore that matched the description of the tale’s “manhood stone”.

Interest has grown quickly. Irish Stone Monsters, a group of enthusiasts, now hosts competitions. A Dublin gym has a stone lifting studio sponsored by Lyft. A boulder known as Cloch Bán was shipped to Boston last year. A stone in County Clare associated with a woman named Mrs Kildea, who supposedly lifted an enormous boulder, has encouraged more women to take part.

Cultural historian Conor Heffernan of Ulster University said stone lifting traditions span Europe, Asia and Africa. Ireland’s rocky identity can be seen in stories like the legend of Finn McCool laying down a path in the sea that became the Giant’s Causeway. Heffernan noted that stone lifting in Ireland sometimes became a proxy for rebellion. In one story, a community sought the strongest Catholic man to lift a stone no Protestant could move.

Keohan and Heffernan are now trying to have the practice added to Ireland’s inventory of intangible cultural heritage, a step toward Unesco recognition.

For Keohan, a father of three who works at a construction depot in Waterford, the rush of information and rediscovered sites feels like a reconnection with something older. “It has given me purpose and a reattachment to what it means to be Irish,” he said. The stories have become as important to him as the lifting itself. A book he has written, The Wind Beneath the Stone, is due out soon. He jokes that if his PhD application succeeds, he may yet become Dr Indiana Stones.

Meet The Man Reviving Ireland’s Ancient Stone Lifting Tradition

People

Maxim Naumov stepped onto Olympic ice on Feb. 13 with a message that said everything he needed to say. Before his free skate in Milan, the 24 year old posted his note to the arena Jumbotron: “Mom and Dad, this is for you.” His parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, who were also his coaches, were killed in the Washington, D.C. plane and helicopter collision in January 2025. He has carried their photo with him at every event since.

Naumov struggled in his free program, falling several times after delivering one of the strongest short programs of his career. He scored 137.71 points in the second round, bringing his total to 223.36. Still, he finished with a smile and waved to a crowd that rose to its feet inside the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

“It is a couple technical mistakes, of course, but I have had the chance to gain a lot of perspective on my life this season. For me, this skate, this whole experience at the Olympics, means so, so much to me,” he told reporters including PEOPLE. “I did not give up, from the start to the finish. That is something I can be proud of.”

Ranked 14th after the short program, Naumov said reaching the Olympics had been a lifelong goal. In the kiss and cry zone, he held the photo of himself at age 3 with his parents, then kissed it when the scores appeared. He keeps the photo in a cross-body bag so it rests against his chest. “I wanted them to sit in the kiss and cry with me and experience the moment, look up at the scores. They deserve to be sat right next to me, like they always have been,” he previously said.

His parents were 55 and 52 when they died in the collision involving American Airlines flight 5342 and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. Naumov said he hears their voices every time he trains. “I hear their voices, like what they say to me, all those lessons that we had every single day for years,” he said. “I have memories that are burned into my head, of certain corrections on jumps and things like that... or they are laughing about something or telling me, ‘Do not forget to point your toes.’”

Naumov said he learns something new about himself in every competition. This one, he said, was no exception. He plans to keep skating and keep moving forward. “I am just a guy that had some really crazy things happen to, but I picked myself up and I continued to move, even when it was the last thing that was on my mind,” he said. “I am not special in that. I think everyone has the ability to do that and I just hope and I pray that I can inspire someone to see that in themselves and to know that they can do it as well.”

He recently launched a GoFundMe campaign called “Building Stronger Minds for Young Athletes,” which will support the early development of a mental wellness program for young competitors. He said the idea came from the challenges he faced after losing his parents and from the pressure young athletes often feel in elite sport.

Naumov’s Olympic run ended on Thursday night, but he said the experience changed him. And as he left the ice, the photo stayed in his hand, the same way it has since he first stepped back into competition.

Olympic Skater Maxim Naumov Honors Late Parents with Emotional Final Performance

Residents in Demarest filled a local restaurant recently, all hoping for a photo or a hug from Joe DiTore. After 33 years on the same route, the town’s most recognisable mailman is retiring, and people wanted one last chance to thank the man who shaped their community in ways that went well beyond daily deliveries.

DiTore started walking Demarest’s streets in 1992, after leaving behind a small house-painting business. He liked helping people, but he did not like charging them. Becoming a mailman let him keep doing what he felt called to do, and he never stopped. “I always tell people I'm around if you need me,” DiTore told CBS News.

Neighbors took that seriously. Residents said DiTore became the person they trusted with personal news, medical updates, small tasks and even home safety. He would flag an open garage door, check in if something felt off, and give people a sense of comfort that had nothing to do with the mail. One resident said they would list him as an emergency contact.

His kindness often showed up in small gestures that landed with much more weight. When Erin Kitzie’s dog Cooper died, she told DiTore before anyone else. He arrived soon after with a bracelet engraved with the dog’s name. Kitzie said of DiTore, “I love my dad, but I honestly see him as sort of a father figure.”

Over the years, he became the steady presence people relied on, the person who remembered details, noticed changes, and treated every stop like more than a job. Many residents said they wanted this gathering so that DiTore could see, clearly and all at once, what his compassion meant to them. They said that because he genuinely cared, they cared for him in return.

Even with retirement ahead, DiTore said he hopes to stop by when he can, just to check in. He left the crowd with a final message of his own. “They say you get back what you give, but in my case, I received it tenfold,” he said. “I will miss you more than I can say.”

A New Jersey Town Says Goodbye to the Mailman Who Delivered Far More Than Letters

Good News Network

Some towns decorate for Christmas or Halloween, but the Wiltshire village of Lover has firmly claimed Valentine’s Day as its own. Every February, thousands of cards are stamped with a special Lover postmark and sent to recipients on every continent, even Antarctica.

The tradition has turned the quiet hamlet into what residents call the world’s most romantic village. Visitors travel from across the UK to mail cards from Lover, including Lindy Nock, who came from Surrey after seeing the tradition online. “I saw it on Instagram and I couldn’t make it last year,” the 54 year old said. “So I thought I would come here and send a card to my pen pal friend in Denmark. The fact they celebrate Valentine’s Day, being called Lover, is fantastic.”

Locals decorate homes and shops with red and pink hearts, and the mailing effort has become so large that it moved out of the village Post Office a decade ago. Residents formed the Lover Community Trust, which now runs the annual operation with dozens of volunteers. More than 10,000 cards are processed each February. People no longer need to visit in person. Anyone can order a card online and have it stamped in Lover before it is posted.

The Darling Cafe opens to handle the Valentine’s crowds, and volunteers help manage cards from around the globe, including orders from China that require specially printed Mandarin characters so addresses can be read. All proceeds from cards and souvenirs support community projects. Revenue has already funded major renovations to the Old School building, now used as a community centre.

Nick Gibbs of the Lover Community Trust described the village as the world’s most romantic, although the cards include options meant for friends too. “We are trying to promote Valentine’s Day as a way of sending a little love to everyone,” said the 78 year old. He noted that one of this year’s cards is travelling as far as Japan.

Volunteers say the work brings the village together. Debbie Harper, who runs the Darling Cafe, said she usually misses the mail processing but still managed to buy a card for her husband. “I got to put the stamp on,” she said. “I love playing post office.”

Janet and Bob Halliday, both in their seventies, help decorate the village each year. “It is going from strength to strength,” Bob said. “When we first started it was just the cards. Now we’ve got jewellery, cards and linens that say, ‘Lots of love from Lover’. It is a very gregarious village and it’s nice being involved.”

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the Lover Valentine Post. Locals plan to create a tapestry tracing the history of the day, drawing on the work of 14th century writer Geoffrey Chaucer, who helped establish the link between Valentine’s Day and romantic love. For now, volunteers are still researching the storyline and deciding how to design it.

Visitors should note one detail before they send their own card from Lover, the name is pronounced to rhyme with Dover.

Brits Flock To Lover Town For Valentine's Day Cards At World's Most Romantic Post Office

Firefighters in Cincinnati used a calm and deliberate plan to rescue an 11 year old girl with autism who was found standing at the edge of an icy pond on Wednesday evening. The goal, they said, was to reach her without startling her into the water.

Crews were called to Bramble Park around 6 p.m. on Feb. 11, where they found the child “standing precariously close” to the frozen pond, according to local outlets WLWT and WXIX. She had been wandering before first responders spotted her alone near the water.

Because unexpected movement or loud commands could have frightened her, firefighters coordinated with her father before attempting the rescue. They placed an extension ladder down a steep slope to create a stable path to the shoreline. Two firefighters descended the ladder, one wearing a protective suit, and secured a life jacket around the girl before guiding her back up to safety.

She was reunited with her father and had no injuries, according to the reports.

The incident highlights the risks faced by children with autism who wander away, a behavior the National Autism Association refers to as elopement. The organization says the risk of drowning is 160 times higher for children with autism compared to the general child population. In 2024, 91 percent of elopement fatalities were due to drowning. On average, seven children with autism die each month after wandering.

Experts say preparation can make a difference. The National Autism Association encourages families to develop safety plans, understand the risk areas near their homes and workplaces, and consider tools like door alarms or GPS trackers. Swimming lessons are also recommended.

“Parents cannot always be there to save their kids. We try as we might, you know, we do everything in the world that we can,” Leslie Williams, president of the Empath for Autism Foundation, told WLWT. She said many families take significant precautions. “These parents are taking a lot of safety measures, door alarms, having GPS tracking on their children. Sometimes, it does not work, but if they do find themselves in that situation, how are they going to survive being in the water?”

The Cincinnati Fire Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

First Responders Rescue 11-Year-Old Girl With Autism From Icy Pond In Cincinnati

BBC News

Around 200 people charged into the North Sea off the Suffolk coast on Valentine’s Day, taking part in Felixstowe’s rescheduled Christmas Day sea dip in support of St Elizabeth Hospice in Ipswich. The long running fundraiser had been postponed in December because of severe weather.

Ellie Main from the hospice described the event as a “local tradition” and said it had already raised a “significant” 40,000 pounds. The original Christmas Day dip had drawn 400 sign ups, but many who could not attend the new date chose to donate instead.

Families, first timers and regulars lined the beach on Friday morning. Emma and Gary, along with their 10 year old daughter Millie from Ipswich, took part for the first time. They said they were excited to join and wanted to support the hospice, which had cared for relatives.

Nearby, Emma Lockwood from Ipswich returned to the water with her sister Sian, who had travelled from Wales. “I am doing this in aid of my friend who died six years ago, and the hospice looked after him and his wife and child,” Lockwood said. Her sister added that the dip happened to coincide with their rugby plans. “I would do it again, it was so much fun, but I can’t find my hands and legs.”

Some dippers were seasoned veterans. Amanda Clinch from Bury St Edmunds said she comes every year. “The atmosphere is brilliant. It was quite rough and a few people fell down, but everyone survived.”

Main said the money raised makes a real difference. She estimated it would cost more than 20,000 pounds to run the hospice over the Valentine’s weekend if its ward was full. “The difference that this money makes is hard to put into words,” she said. “The number of people who could be supported through that money is incredible and it’s a key event for us.”

Valentine's Day Dip Raises £40,000 For Hospice

ESPN

Director Tyree Dillihay marked the moment the way fans mark a long awaited anniversary. After nearly eight years of work on the new animated basketball film “GOAT,” he spoke to ESPN with the same energy as the track playing in his head. “Do you know what today is? It is premiere day,” he said.

The project dates back to September 2018, when Dillihay and his team at Sony Pictures began developing a story shaped around underdogs, ambition and the kind of resilience that changes how the sport looks. The idea came together soon after Stephen Curry’s production company, Unanimous Media, reached a multiyear deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Curry serves as an executive producer and also voices one of the film’s characters. Several current and former NBA and WNBA stars joined the cast.

“They were looking for something that had like an underdog spirit to it,” Dillihay said.

The movie follows Will, a young goat played by actor Caleb McLaughlin, who dreams of making it in the top tier of “roarball,” a fictional supercharged version of basketball played by the largest and fiercest animals. Will is constantly overlooked because of his size, a theme drawn directly from Curry’s own path as a 6 foot 2 All Star who changed how smaller guards are viewed in the modern game.

“We kind of took [Curry’s journey as a basketball player] and infused it in our hero, Will, for the ultimate underdog story for the next generation,” Dillihay said.

Designing a sport played by animals required a complete rewrite of how basketball looks on screen. “You take the sport of basketball and flip it on its head and turn the volume up to 11 and exaggerate it and call it roarball,” Dillihay said. Players can switch between two feet and all fours. They can use claws, paws, hooves, wings and tails. Courts stretch to 120 yards and rims rise to 15 feet. Settings shift from red clay with living roots that grab at players to Arctic ice that cracks under polar bears.

Dillihay worked closely with Curry to make sure the game still felt grounded. “We actually sat down one on one and I listened to him talk about the game, different little details, footwork, hand placement, spacing, even momentum, pace,” Dillihay said.

Curry’s former teammate Andre Iguodala helped build the playbook. Each play in the film follows real concepts from his experience in the league. Dillihay said they are realistic enough to come from a playbook that won four championships.

Dillihay said the message behind the movie is simple. “Dream big. Your dreams have no ceiling, sky’s the limit,” he said. He pointed to the way the main character is lifted by his community. “No, your circumstances and your conditions do not define you.”

He tied the message to his own journey. “If you work hard enough, you will exceed your goals. Look, I am proof, I come from Inglewood, California. I am not supposed to be here. I am the fourth Black director in cinematic history to direct a major animated film. If that ain’t proof that dreams do come true, I do not know what is.”

The cast of athletes adds another layer. Curry voices Lenny, a giraffe who stands as the tallest defender in the film, a reversal of Curry’s stature in real life. “He is a physical presence, a towering defender. Sometimes focused, sometimes not but he is a great teammate,” Curry said.

Dwyane Wade plays Rosette, a nod to the Chicago Bulls and co director Adam Rosette. Gabrielle Union, who plays Jett Filmore, joked at the premiere that she would beat Rosette in a one on one game. “It is not even close,” she said.

Iguodala appears as Iggy the Ref, a zebra who now calls the fouls instead of arguing them. “It is funny to put somebody in a position where they have been on the other side of the table and now you bring them over to that other side,” Dillihay said.

A’ja Wilson voices Kouyate, a crocodile and the film’s main antagonist. Dillihay said the role was written to showcase her presence. Angel Reese plays Propp, a polar bear named after Sony Animation’s head of story, Keely Propp. Dillihay said Reese surprised him during recording when he asked her to improvise some trash talk. “She was like, ‘I do not talk trash,’ and I was like ‘Whoa,’” he said.

After 7½ Years of Work, the Animated Basketball Epic ‘GOAT’ Finally Reaches the Big Screen

Talker News

Peter Gray was not expecting a life changing phone call when builders began work on his Dorset cottage. They were digging out a parking area during an extension project 22 years ago when they uncovered terracotta tiles and a pottery vessel filled with 213 historic silver coins. Gray, now 79, still remembers the moment. “The cottage dates from the 1500 or 1600s and it was a wonderful surprise when I was told about them, you never expect to find a hoard of coins,” he said.

This week he finally sold the collection as he and his wife Jackie prepare to move. A total of 200 coins went to auction at Noonans Mayfair on Tuesday and fetched a hammer price of 61,735 dollars, double the original estimate. Most of the coins date from the reign of Henry VII, between 1485 and 1509. The highest price went to a rare Groat with what experts describe as an excellent portrait of the Tudor king. It sold for 2,600 dollars against a guide of 400 to 500 dollars.

Gray, a retired international bank inspector, suspects the hoard may have been hidden by smugglers using a nearby route that once linked the Dorset coast to Dorchester and Salisbury. “Who they belonged to, we do not know, but the cottage is not too far from the Dorset Gap which was a route that linked the South Coast to Dorchester and Salisbury, so it is possible that they were hidden by a smuggler,” he said.

After the discovery in 2004, Gray entered the Treasure Trove process. Dorset Museum acquired 13 coins and he bought out the builders who were eligible for half the proceeds under treasure law. The hoard later became known as the Littlebrook Hoard and includes 176 groats and 37 half groats. All are English silver issues and all meet the official sterling standard.

Bradley Hopper, Head of the Coin department at Noonans, said the strongest results came from international buyers. “The prices of the top three lots reflected the strength of the world market as they were bought by buyers in the USA, UK and Australia and all well exceeded our expectations,” he said. “This was due to their quality, condition and how well they had been preserved.”

He highlighted the Groat that drew the highest figure. “The most exciting coin in the collection was Lot 237 which sold extremely well due to the strength of the portrait, as it is the first Naturalistic depiction on an English coin, and is a wonderful likeness of Henry VII.”

Jim Brown, a coin specialist at Noonans, said the hoard provides a clear snapshot of early sixteenth century currency. “The fact that the coins were discovered in a container is clear evidence that they were deposited on a single occasion and they represent a selected body of higher value silver coins from the currency of the early sixteenth century, before the new weight standard of 1526 was introduced.”

The earliest coin dates to the reign of Edward III in the mid 1300s. The latest was issued from York after Cardinal Wolsey became bishop in 1514. Brown said the set was probably buried between 1514 and 1520, decades before anyone imagined a mechanical digger would reveal it again.

Home Renovation Uncovers 200 Historic Coins Hidden for Decades

Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo picked an interesting day to hit a historic milestone. On Friday the 13th, Norway’s biggest cross country star added another gold medal to his collection at the Milan Cortina Olympics, and this one put him in rare company. The 29 year old won the men’s 10 kilometer interval start race, pushing his all time total to eight Olympic titles and tying the Winter Games record.

Klaebo now sits beside three retired Norwegian greats, Marit Bjoergen, Bjoern Daehlie and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. All three retired with eight golds. Klaebo arrived at these Games with pressure to match their total, along with plenty of debate about how long he would stay on the circuit. Instead of adding to the noise, he just kept winning. Friday’s title was his third of the 2026 Games and it came in what many athletes consider the most physically demanding race on the program.

The field knew the course would decide things on the last hill. Klaebo used that stretch the same way he has for years, by accelerating when everyone else starts to fade. He crossed the line in 20 minutes, 36.2 seconds. It was enough to beat France’s Mathis Desloges by 4.9 seconds and fellow Norwegian Einar Hedegart by 14 seconds.

As soon as he finished, Klaebo dropped to the snow. It was one of the few times he has shown visible strain right at the line. “It is a special day,” he said. “This one means a lot for sure. … I am lost for words.”

He said the plan was simple. Start steady, avoid burning too much energy early and save everything for the final climb. “It was really hard out there today, so I am very proud,” he said. The race suited him in two ways. It rewarded patience and it rewarded power on a course that many athletes described as punishing.

Desloges turned the result into a celebration for the French team. The 23 year old entered the Games without much attention and now leaves the race with two silver medals in his first Olympics. His teammates responded by linking arms and dancing on the snow as soon as the standings became clear. “I trained incredibly hard for these races,” he said. “I told people I was at this level, and now we are delivering.”

He said he barely noticed any information coming from coaches on the course. Some athletes thrive on real time updates from staff who shout time checks and split comparisons as the race unfolds. Desloges said he did not hear much of it. “I do not really pay attention to what is being shouted from the sidelines,” he said. “Honestly, I do not listen to them. I just focus on my race. I know what I have to do, and I give it everything.”

Norwegian fans dominated the finish area, waving flags and covering the barriers with red, white and blue. Many Norwegians consider cross country skiing a central part of their national identity and a regular prime time feature at home. Messages began filling social media minutes after the result. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere posted, “Another show of strength from Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. What a performance in a thriller of a race. Congratulations on gold number three in these Olympics.”

Klaebo’s grandfather, Kare Hoesflot, made the trip to northern Italy to watch in person. He played a central role in Klaebo’s early training and has often been credited with shaping his approach to racing. Family members stood near the mixed zone greeting him as he stepped away from the course. Reporters asked about the significance of tying the record and about the pressure that now follows him into every race. He downplayed both and said the only thing that mattered was executing the plan and leaving everything on the course.

The interval start format often shakes up expectations because athletes cannot directly track their rivals on the course. Each racer sets off at timed intervals and learns the final standings only when everyone has finished. Klaebo’s team monitored the splits and knew he had time in hand as he approached the last climb. Hedegart, his nearest challenger, lost pace on that same hill. Desloges held strong and closed slightly in the final stretch, but Klaebo’s early speed and late surge kept him in front.

Norway has more medal chances coming up in the next few days, including distance races and relays where Klaebo could add to his total. The discussion around records will follow him straight through the end of the Games, but inside the camp the message has been to focus on each start and avoid turning the chase for golds into a distraction. He still has three more races. The record, for now, is a shared one.

Norwegian Ties Record For Golds In Multiple Winter Olympics

Phillip Bloxham, a 35-year-old from Cardiff, has become one of the top contenders in the stone-skimming community. His recent feat of skimming a stone 157 meters across Cosmeston Lakes in Wales has surpassed the current Guinness World Record of 121.8 meters set in 2018.

Bloxham is now considered one of the best stone skimmers in the sport. He said he spent most of his childhood outdoors in a rural village near Narberth, where skimming stones and climbing trees filled his days. He always knew he was good at it, but it was a single comment in 2022 that pushed him toward competition. While on holiday in Devon, a woman passing by watched him throw and shouted, “champion stone skimmer there.”

“I thought nothing of it,” he said, but two weeks later, he found himself wondering if stone skimming competitions actually existed. They did. He entered the Welsh Championships just weeks later and placed second. He repeated that result the following year, then won the title in 2024 with a personal best throw of 140 meters.

His unexpected rise in the sport followed a rough period in his life. A serious knee injury a decade ago, followed by six surgeries, left his usual hobbies like snowboarding, climbing and surfing out of reach. Stone skimming was something he could still do, and do well. That made it even more meaningful.

“Using nothing but nature and myself to do incredible things,” he said. “It still amazes me every time that stone dances along the water towards the horizon, mesmerizing.”

He practices across Wales, including Cosmeston Lakes in Penarth and Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire. Because every stone is different, he said, each throw feels like its own puzzle.

He has brought others along for the ride too. His wife, Bethan Bloxham, and her sister, Nerys Wells, both learned the craft from him. Wells is now the current Welsh champion. “In 2024 at the Welsh championships I got 1st and my wife got 3rd,” he said. “She has adapted to the life of living with a stone skimmer. She was not a skimmer before I taught her. She is very supportive of it all, perfect wife.”

The community itself is part of the draw. “A whole bunch of adults who never gave up skimming stones,” Bloxham said. “A really lovely bunch of people who I love to see each time we meet up.”

Despite the unofficial nature of his new 157 meter throw, Bloxham plans to make it count. He said he wants to take the official records for both distance and the number of skips in the coming year. That means collecting proper evidence and going through the Guinness process, something he admits he needs to “get around to.”

Right now, Bloxham is in Argentina, where he is judging the country’s first national stone skimming championship in Patagonia. After that, he plans to return to the competitive circuit in Wales.

“It’s about being there and having fun more than winning,” he said. “But we all do like winning. I am aiming for 200 meters one day. I haven’t gotten quite that far yet.”

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