The story
Sinjska Alka in Sinj
Sinjska Alka is a knights' tournament held annually in Sinj, Croatia, commemorating the town's defense against a much larger Ottoman army on the night of August 14, 1715. Riders in historical military dress gallop down the main street aiming lances at a small hanging iron ring, following rules codified in an 1833 statute.
About seven hundred Venetian professional soldiers and a hundred local defenders held the town of Sinj against an Ottoman army of at least forty thousand led by Mehmed-pasa Celic on the night of August 14, 1715, a victory the Sinjska Alka tournament has commemorated annually since the following century by having knights of the Cetinska krajina region ride horses at full gallop down the town's main street, aiming lances at a small iron ring, the alka, hung on a rope stretched across the road.