This year’s Royal Manx Agricultural Show at Knockaloe farm in Patrick promises to be full of thrills and spills with two stunt teams included in the entertainment.
The Stampede Stunt Company, started by husband and wife team Karl Greenwood and Zana Cousins-Greenwood, put on medieval stunt shows, trick riding shows and horse archery displays.
At Knockaloe they will be showing off their jousting skills.
‘This will be our first visit. We’re very excited about coming to this island,’ said Karl.
‘We do shows all over the UK and abroad at places like family fun days, country shows and in castles,’ he added.
Asked how the idea for the show began he explained: ‘We had a trapeze, fire-eating and stilts act in a circus and we got asked to appear in a medieval show so that’s where the idea began.
‘We do other things like teaching the horse back archery, jousting and filming in winter,’ he said.
Some of the stunt riders have appeared in TV shows such as Doctor Who, Dallas and Merlin, as well as movies like Hot Fuzz, Clash of the Titans 2, and Snow White and the Huntsman, to name just a few of their recent credits.
The stunt horses are mainly Iberian types and are also talented, even having their own CVs.
Also performing at this year’s Royal Show, which begins on Friday, will be a world record breaking cycle stunt team.
The main sponsors of the show, Manx Telecom, is bringing over the UK-based ‘3Sixty cycle’ stunt riders.
They have more than a decade of experience performing BMX and MTB tricks at festivals and last year alone set five world records.
They will also be teaching cycling tricks to children.
In addition to the stunts on show, there will also be a bunghee run challenge with a chance of winning Manx Telecom’s Ultima broadband for a year.
The bunghee run involves racing down an inflatable track while tethered to a bunghee rope. One person will be selected at random to win the broadband prize.
For more information on the Royal Show visit www.royalmanx.com