History of Extreme Ironing
The sport was started in Leicester, East Midlands, England by resident Phil Shaw in his back yard. EI, however, is no longer localized to Great Britain. In June 1999, Shaw, who goes by the EI nickname "Steam", embarked on an international tour to promote the sport. The stops included the United States of America, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia and Southern Africa. An encounter with German tourists in New Zealand led to the founding of the Extreme Ironing Bureau, and the German Extreme Ironing Section or GEIS.
Phil Shaw, known as 'Steam' in extreme ironing world, founded the sport in 1997.
In September of 2002, the first World Championship for the sport took place in Valley, Germany, near Munich. Organized by the German Extreme Ironing Section, the 1st Extreme Ironing World Championships were considered a success, drawing international media attention. Competitors from Austria, Australia, Croatia, Chile, Germany, the UK and other countries participated. The competition included eighty different teams from ten different countries.
Since the sport's invention, there has been the formation of an alleged breakaway group, Urban Housework. This has been considered unethical by some Extreme Ironers, as it alters the environment, disrupting the natural decay of plant matter to help re-fertilize the earth.
A documentary, appropriately entitled Extreme Ironing, was filmed for Britain's Channel 4 in December 2002.
In 2003 the Rowenta Trophy was won by a group from South Africa by ironing across a gorge at the Wolfberg Cracks. Later that year, Phil Shaw brought out a book, also entitled Extreme Ironing (ISBN 1843305550). The following year saw the release of a dvd titled Ironing Under the Sky, which was produced by Hot Under the Collar Productions.
In 2004, the EIB traveled to the US on the Rowenta Tour to recruit additional ironists and ironed at Mount Rushmore, New York, Boston and Devil's Tower. The tour culminated in an interview nation-wide on Good Morning America.
Extreme Ironing under water
A very special way of extreme ironing is made under water. Therefore special irons are needed.
Extreme Ironing at 50m: Seven BSAC divers, four creased t-shirts, four irons and ironing boards, all at 50m under water. This was the contribution of Severnside Sub-Aqua Club to the world of extreme ironing. Part of Severnside’s ambitious 50x50 program (50 events to celebrate 50 years of British Sub-Aqua Club - the world's biggest diving club), the extreme ironing dive at the National Diving Centre near Chepstow was filmed by HTV and broadcast on the evening news.
Power
While the EI website refers to battery-powered irons, most Extreme Ironing is done cold with an ordinary mains-powered iron.[1] One would need at least a car battery to heat an iron to a useful temperature.
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Suggestions of Olympic eligibility
Following the 2004 Summer Olympics, five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave backed extreme ironing to become an Olympic sport. "It is a fantastic sport. It's a little bizarre in some respect, but in a few years' time, rowing could be chopped from the Olympics and extreme ironing could be in!"
Extreme Ironing founder, Steam adds: "Although, Sir Steve obviously wasn't really proposing the demise of rowing as an Olympic sport, it's still fantastic to get the backing of arguably Britain's finest ever athlete. And you never know, it might see the start of a new style of extreme ironing with competitors balanced on rowing boats."
In defense of these opinions Steam asks doubters to consider synchronized swimming and its status as an Olympic sport. For that matter, adds Fabulon (an Australian Extreme Ironist) take a look at the sport of curling - if THAT can be a Winter Olympic sport, Extreme Ironing has no problem in being recognized.
World Records
A recent development of the sport has been setting Extreme Ironing World Records. This trend began when a couple of British ironists ironed at Base Camp One on Mount Everest. The record was promptly taken by South African Yster for ironing at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro (5,859m). The record for ironing at altitude is now held by Iron Man Carrick, who ironed at the summit of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina (6959m). The Hot Plate Brothers also tried to match the record, but failed to reach the summit. In 2004 Tim Spear did some ironing at 7060m on the North Col of Everest during an unsuccessful bid for the summit.
The extreme ironing underwater depth record is held by British ironist Dive Girl, for ironing 100 metres underwater off the coast of Egypt. In January 2005, a group of Australian scuba divers snatched the underwater group extreme ironing world record from a team of Kiwis when 43 ironists ironed underwater. The record has since been challenged by the Kiwis as they didn't dive more than five metres.
In April 2004, Crease Lightnin' set the extreme ironing London Marathon record for taking full extreme ironing equipment around the course of the marathon and ironing a couple of items on the way. The Leeds ironist completed the marathon in 4 hours and 8 minutes.
The longest ever garment ironed under extreme conditions was completed by extreme ironing founder Phil Shaw (Steam) in December 2003 in Leicester, the birthplace of the sport, when he ironed in a David Blaine-style box 20 metres above bemused Christmas shoppers. |
