Antagonisticathlon!

On Sunday, March 11th of 2012, members of the Bartitsu Club of Chicago took part in the first ever “antagonisticathlon“ event hosted by the Forteza Fitness and Martial Arts studio in Ravenswood, Chicago. This was their graduation from the recent six-week introductory Bartitsu training course. During the late 19th century, the word “antagonistics“ meant all manner of combat sports and self defence skills. Antagonisticathlon participants represent Victorian-era adventurers fighting their way through a gauntlet of obstacles and ne’er-do-wells, inspired by Sherlock Holmes’ escape from Professor Moriarty’s assassins in “The Adventure of the Final Problem“. The “stations“ of the antagonisticathlon (not all shown in the video compilation) included: Charging shoulder tackle to punching bag (“knocking an assassin out the window and into the Thames“) Precision cane thrusts through suspended rings Overcoat and cane vs. da