CALEDONIA - Milo Leger smiles deeply moments after her athletic feat.

"I’m a gold winner!" she exclaimed, pumping her hands in the air.

She said concentration and focus were the secrets to her success Wednesday as the winner of the ladies frying pan toss in the 44 and older category in Caledonia, Queens County.

Training helps too, she added with a laugh, pointing to her somewhat skimpy biceps.

Tossing a cast iron frying pan is an annual favourite event at Canada Day festivities in this rural inland community. It was Ms. Leger’s first year competing.

"It’s difficult to control," she said, as evidenced by her practice throw.

The hefty pan just skimmed over the grass before thudding heavily not too far from her feet.

But she hurled it with a vigorous grunt the second time, managing a distance of 6.15 metres.

It was the third time Elizabeth Hawkes had competed in the under 44 category - and the third time she won. She shrugs when asked about technique.

Tossing a frying pan just seems to come naturally to her, she said after winding up for an underhanded toss that landed 6.5 metres away.

"She gets lots of practice," husband Scott interjected. "She hits me with a frying pan every day."

Ron Fralic refereed the event. He said the first rule is quite basic.

"Don’t hurt anybody."

Other than that, it’s not too complicated. The competitor must stand behind the line in the grass and throw the cast iron pan straight down a line that looks suspiciously like a yellow extension cord.

It’s important to keep the pan close to that yellow line because if it goes off to the side, Mr. Fralic deducts that distance from the final vertical distance.

David Crooker owns the 10-pound pan. He uses it primarily for cooking pancakes at home.

"It’s heavy cast iron, so it gives a nice steady heat."

In fact, it was used hours earlier during the Canada Day pancake brunch at the Masonic Lodge beside the site of the frying pan toss.

Mr. Crooker warned the ladies to take it off the burner in plenty of time.

"It had to be cool enough to handle."

Mandy Rowe-Maxwell found it cool enough, but she also found the handle a little slippery.

"Good deal I’m not wearing fake fingernails," she said after competing in the under 44 class.

She also found it heavy.

"I’m going to get a 25-pound frying pan and practise for next year."

Organizers had planned a wife-carrying competition, but organizer Peter Van Dyke said none of the husbands signed up.

"Some of the husbands were worried they couldn’t pick up their wives, so either the husband would be embarrassed or the wife would be mad. So we just didn’t go there."

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