The tranquillity of Corofin in north Clare will be disturbed on the May bank holiday weekend by the sound of breaking glass as competitors hurl stones at empty bottles.

Seven years after the idea was first conceived by local publican John Campbell and well-known journalist Cormac MacConnell, the World StoneThrowing Championships will take place on 6 May at the back of the Inchiquin Inn.

Campbell and his wife Anne are currently making final preparations for the event that brings grown men back to their childhood as they hurl stones at targets at the rear of Campbell's pub.

"Cormac MacConnell and I came up with the idea as a fundraiser for the RTE Telethon one night in the pub in 2000, " Campbell explained.

"We used to have fundraising events such as the Porter Bellies vs the Publicans football matches for Telethon so we decided to come up with something different.

"We used to throw stones on the walk home from school many years ago so we thought it would be great to incorporate stone-throwing into a fundraiser."

The pair haven't looked back since . . . MacConnell is now the president of the Stone-Throwing Association of Ireland and Campbell hopes that the competition will become an internationallyrenowned event on the sporting calendar.

Even though the sport is in its infancy, winners of the Corofin event have come from Chicago, Glasgow, London and Germany in the competition's six-year history.

"Competitors pay 5 for five stones and they throw them at a bottle which is perched upside-down on a nail on top of a pole about 12 feet away, " said Campbell. "Once the competitors knock and break the bottle, they get into the next round of the competition. We get a barrel of seaside stones for the event and we have a net behind the bottle to stop stones from going everywhere and anywhere."

After a number of internet trawls, the organisers are sure that their stone-throwing event in Corofin is the only one of its kind in the world. The winner of the event in the humble surrounds of the backyard of an Irish pub can thus proudly call themselves a world champion.

"We have ladies' and gents' competitions and we expect a few hundred people to participate in the competition, " said Anne Campbell. All of the proceeds are now split between a different local charity each year and a fund for Christmas lighting in Corofin.

When asked if competitors must be sober to take part, John Campbell observed, "We do not breathalyse people before they throw the stones and as long as they are able to stand up, we let them participate."