PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

Throwing a cannonball down a country road may sound like child’s play, “but in some circles, Irish road bowling is serious business,” said Vicki Smith in the Associated Press. One of the world’s oldest sports, it’s also “one of the easiest and cheapest to get into.” Long played by teams based in New York and Boston, it caught on in West Virginia after being introduced in the 1995 Irish Spring Festival, held in a town called Ireland. An association formed (wvirishroadbowling.com), and now some 1,000 people partake in events throughout the state. To play, a bowler stands on a starting line marked on the road and rolls a 2-pound cannonball in the direction of a finish line one or two miles away, trying to help the team reach it in the fewest possible bowls. This summer’s North American finals will be held in upstate New York in August, but West Virginia hosts various competitions from March through November.