LockSport
Have you heard? Move over David Beckham and Dame Kelly
Holmes, for there’s not a sport around that can challenge the technical mettle
and steely determination required of LockSport!
Predicted by Lockforce to be the new sports craze (trust
us!), LockSport or Door Hardware Sport,
as it is known to some die-hard lockthusiasts,
is gaining increasing traction in the UK and further afield.
.
The history of Locksport actually goes back further than you
may think…to the 1850s in fact, which was a decade in which lock manufacturers
both sides of the Atlantic began take lock security seriously. Public
competitions were hosted to highlight the impenetrability of the locks being
vended, which in turn cultivated an environment where lock-pickers could practice
their skills without suspicion falling on their motives. It was the genesis of
the noble pastime of LockSport that an increasing number of us are enjoying
today.
And while the conventions made for great publicity, that’s
not say that these lock manufacturers were wholly successful in their marketing
ploys. One notable story remains that of the Bramah lock company, whose open challenge
open to anyone to pick the darling of their lock portfolio at the London’s Great
Exhibition of 1851 ended in an American challenger Alfred C Hobbs opening the
device in no less than 24 days… in front of several judges and what one can
only surmise as an exhausted audience! An incredulous Bramah were left with egg
on their face and a hefty reward to pay out…
After the Bramah incident, LockSport then suffered a lull in
activity until the rise of hacking as a popular pastime in the 90's again put
lock security (both manual and digital) firmly back in the spotlight. Instead
of through the guise of product shows, LockSport now made itself manifest in purpose-held
‘security conferences’. And while industry was involved, it was not for PR
objective to which it was once driven. The efforts of lockpickers would rather
be observed to highlight areas of vulnerability in lock designs that vendors
could subsequently address before bringing their products to the wide public.
Indeed, one such organisation, TOOOL: The Open Organisation Of Lockpickers, was instrumental in
identifying the tactic of lock bumping, a technique against which your
authorised locks fitted by Lockforce are now protected. TOOOL hosts a
celebrated lock picking tournament each year…albeit in a rural hostel described
by one journalist as an Ikea gulag!!…Alas
we at Lockforce predict it will be a fair while before door hardware sports receive the same recognition and funding as
its more glamorous sporting counterparts.
Nonetheless, lock fever can certainly be seen to be taking
hold, with lock picking competitions popping up across the continent! For
Instance, the Czech Association of Lock and Key Services debuted its LONG
AWAITED Lock exhibition this year for budding enthusiasts, meanwhile LockSport
events in Poland, Germany and the UK continue to enjoy growing success.
But what about the ethics of practising a sport that can so
easily be used for evil as well as good? While recognising that they could deploy
their talents in breaking into people’s property, those interviewed say they
just get a buzz out of the mechanics of picking locks…and that’s thrill enough
for them! However, the undercover cops that are rumoured to attend the
LockSport extravaganzas suggest not everyone is happy with LockSport’s growing
fan-base…
