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Throw Your Mobile With Style

A new way to recycle old mobile phones is to participate in a mobile phone throwing contest in Finland. Now anyone who wants to get rid of their mobile phone can do it in style and may even win a medal at the Mobile Phone Throwing World Championship, a Finnish invention. Originally a local event in this small town close to the Russian border, the seventh annual contest a few days ago drew around 100 throwers from as far as Canada, Russia and Belgium.

Founder Christine Lund tells the event is a good source of light exercise with an environmentally friendly twist. "There are a lot of mobile phones on the second-hand market, and we are recycling them (before they become toxic waste)," she said.The inventive Finns had already given the world the Sauna World Championships and the Wife Carrying Competition before coming up with a new way to make mobile phones even more mobile.

This year`s gold medal went to Finland`s Lassi Etelatalo, who pitched an old Nokia unit for 89.00 meters. "I prepared by javelin throwing, I haven`t really practised throwing mobile phones," Etelatalo said. Competitors all have their favorite throwing brand. "People choose by size, by color or by how it fits in the hand ... Some believe a heavy model will ensure a long throw, some want a light one."