The 2008 European Disc Golf Championships were held August 28-31 in the town of Heidenheim and the village of Söhnstetten, in the beautiful Schwäbische Alb region of Germany. Hosted by the WSC Albuch, this grande dame of European events is open only to players of European citizenship or residence. All told, 212 of Europe's finest players representing 16 countries came to play, including traditional powerhouses Sweden and Finland, a strong host German team, familiar faces from the UK, Switzerland, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium and Norway, as well as relative newcomers Russia, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

The tournament included 4 preliminary rounds for all players, with 141 Open division players in Pools A and B, and 71 Women, Masters, GMs, Senior GMs, and Juniors in Pool C. Open shuffled after 2 rounds and cut to 72 for the Semis round on Saturday at Söhnstetten, with Finals for the top 4 in all divisions slated for Sunday at Brenzpark.

After 72 holes Norway's Espen Møkkelgjerd led home course favorite Michael Stelzer by 4 and ex-javelin thrower Ville Piippo from Finland by 5. While these three would battle to the finish line, Espen looked like a certain winner when he stretched his lead to 8 over Stelzer and 9 over
Piippo with a solid 7 under 54 in the semi at Söhnstetten. However, Espen struggled during the finals and couldn't stop the charging Ville Piippo who won by a single throw over Stelzer and by 2 over Mokkelgjerd.

In the Women's division, Anki Frantz and Birgitta Lagerholm played terrific from the start, leaving fellow Swede Niloo Mossavarahmani and Finland's Anna Matilainen to battle for 3rd. Anki's hot 63 on Saturday gave her a 1 stroke lead over Europe's top female player with 9 holes to play. After an exciting battle and missed pressure putts from both players on hole 9 the players were tied and the match headed for sudden death. Playing for her biggest win ever and having seen her hard fought lead evaporate, Anki unfortunately succumbed to the pressure when her 2nd shot on Hole 1 went well left and OB, leaving Birgitta to play for par and a drop-in for the win.

In the other Sunday morning Finals Oscar Stenfelt won the Europe Juniors <19 title by 14. Masters was won by Sweden's Dan Johansson, Grandmasters by Switzerland's Paul Francz, and Amateur Bob Mohl from Paris won the Senior GMs in a playoff over Swiss-Italian Franco Puliafito.

The immense efforts of the host club really paid off. Not only did TD Dennis Stampfer, his core team, and 120 volunteers put a collective 3000 hours into the last 2 weeks of event preparation, but their equally impressive marketing efforts brought tons of local sponsorship,regional press coverage, and a great crowd to the Finals on Sunday. During the Women's and Open Finals, spectators were also treated to live play-by-play commentary, which was a really nice touch.

Editor's note: This is a shortened copy of Brian's Hoeniger's article which will be appearing in issue #5 of Flying Disc Magazine.