Bloomer will be jumping again this weekend at the 65th Annual World Speed Rope Jump Contest. Over the years, the contest has drawn thousands of people to watch and participate and garnered national attention as records were broken and champions were named, and Bloomer became known as the jump rope capital of the world.
Bloomer’s rope jumping boom began in 1960 when a former coach named Wally Mohrman became the physical education teacher in the schools. Knowing rope jumping to be good exercise, he decided to stir some interest in his students with a contest.
The contest was all about speed jumping. How many times can someone jump a rope in 10 seconds?
Each year the contest grew and more and more people would make the trip to Bloomer to participate or catch the rope jump action. Mohrman even formed a group of girls called “Swinging Safari” who would perform precision rope jumping routines to various types of music to add to the event.
Each year the contest grew as records were set and more schools started having contests and sending the winners to Bloomer. The contest gained national attention when Paul Morning broke a world record with 72 jumps in 10 seconds in 1979, which led to an appearance on the “Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” for Morning, Mohrman and Roxie Hyke.
Mohrman died in 1982, but his rope jumping legacy continues to this day, 65 years later. Each year, students from Grades 1 through 8 train hard and come to Bloomer to compete.
The 65th Annual World Speed Rope Jump Contest will take over the Bloomer High School gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 25.
Registration begins at 7 a.m. (must be Registered by 8:30 a.m.) Preliminaries will begin promptly at 9 a.m. The Break after Preliminaries will be approximately from 12:00 – 12:45 p.m. Finals will begin at 1:00 p.m. The competition should be completed, with a new Champion crowned by around 2:30 p.m.
The reigning grand champion is Bloomer’s Kever Peterson who won her first contest last year with 55 jumps after two jump offs against Bloomer’s Tatum Steinmetz. Peterson won the girls division with 56 jumps. Steinmetz won the boys division with 56 jumps.
The Bloomer Chamber of Commerce and the Rope Jump Committee have planned another fun-filled contest, and invite the community to join in this long time Bloomer tradition.