A Perthshire retiree has attracted international attention after taking first place in an worldwide knife throwing competition.
Derek Hutchinson, 66, first tried his hand at the niche sport two years ago, building his own throwing range in the garden and buying a set of knives online.
Since then he has spent hundreds of hours practicing, and gained success faster than he ever could have imagined.
The Scone resident currently holds the number one spot in the Aim Games K18 “Pirate Island” Competition – an international tournament hosted by American businessman Rick Lemberg.
To compete, hopefuls submitting videos completing daily challenges, which they are given points for.
At the time of writing, Derek has earned more points than any of the other 436 entrants.
The competition ends on February 28.
He says he has “impostor syndrome” and cannot believe he is winning.
“I just keep wondering why it’s me that’s in the lead,” he said.
“When I was doing it, it just felt like everything was right. I just couldn’t believe it.”
‘Its a great community’
While he is happy with his success, the retired Trading Standards worker says meeting new people is more important to him than winning.
“It’s a great community,” he said.
“Everybody that’s involved, they all try to help you.
“It’s friendly, it really is.
“I got that high score just recently and you get all these people coming and congratulating you.
“The girl who had been in the lead, Lauren Dennis, had been in the lead for weeks.
“She got a high score early on the competition and I’d been in second for a wee while before I got my high score.
“She was one of the first people to congratulate me.
“It’s a really friendly community. I’ve yet to meet anyone I dislike.”
Trying to get others involved
Derek is also keen to get more people into his beloved sport, and asks all visitors to his home to try their hand at his back-garden range.
He added: “I keep telling people that they’re not allowed to visit me unless they throw.
“I invite friends, family, strangers, people walking by, to throw.
“There was a bloke that came to pick up a skip outside the house.
“He says: ‘Oh what’s that you’re doing?’ and I told him, then I ended up getting him throwing.
“There was a laddie who came up who I knew from the gym, he does windows and I had him throwing.
“Both of them have been entered in the competition.”
How to get started
He also hopes more people will get involved by themselves, saying: “For anyone that what’s to get into this – go online.
“I got into it mainly by trial and error, looking up how to do things and trying it until I teach myself.
“People online will help you as well. There’s a guy in Sweden who makes all these different videos on how to do things and if you message him he’ll show you how to do it.
“People will really go out of their way.
“At competitions people will explain things for you, even though they’re competing against you.
“It’s just really friendly.”
