Macksburg is home to a national skillet throw competition. RAGBRAI riders tried the sport.

MACKSBURG — Ready, aim, throw your frying pans.

Macksburg, a small town of just about 100 people, is home to the Macksburg National Skillet Throw, a competition where participants throw frying pans at dummies. One point is earned for knocking the head (a basketball) off a dummy (made of sandbags). Two points are earned for hitting the head straight on. You have to throw underhanded and can't use both hands.

The town held its own contest on Day 3 of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iow a for cyclists to try their hand at the hometown sport. Loud clanging could be heard when first arriving in town, skillets hitting the permanent skillet-throwing cages in the middle of town.

Todd Walbert, 55, of Chicago, took a break from his first cross-Iowa trek to see what the flying skillets in the air were all about.

"I'd read about it, but I still wasn't sure what to expect," Walbert said. So, he took his opportunity and geared up to throw a few pans.

"How can you not throw some?" he said. "It is a beautiful day. I was sitting in the park after a nice bike ride. ... I saw skillets being thrown and I had to do it."

Walbert came short and wasn't able to hit the head off the dummies.

"They were lighter than I thought they'd be, but it was harder to throw them than I expected," he said.

Roger Wolfe, 45, a Macksburg native, coached throwers who wanted to take a shot at throwing a skillet themselves.

"You have to hold the pan in a certain way, a bit like you're bowling, is what I tell people," he said. "It's like you're throwing a bowling ball."

Wolfe, true to his own advice, showed the Des Moines Register how it's done, hitting the head off a dummy on his first try.

Macksburg was collecting donations at the skillet throw to buy a new community playground. Extra funds will be used to buy more skillets for future competitions.

"Ever since I was little, it's been a thing," Wolfe said of skillet throwing. "From what I've been told, the city wanted to put together a celebration, and the Postmaster General came up with the idea and we've been doing it ever since."

Every year, on the third Saturday of June, Macksburg holds the Macksburg National Skillet Throw . In 2023, 44 teams competed, according to the Winterset Madisonian .

Hundreds of cyclists took their hand at throwing some skillets, but John Pound, 55, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, said he'll stick to the sidelines and watch others participate.

"This is the first time I've seen it... but I can see the locals getting into this," Pound said. "But there's a 0% chance of me doing it."

Kyle Werner is a reporter for the Register. Reach him at kwerner@dmreg.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Macksburg is home to a national skillet throw competition. RAGBRAI riders tried the sport.