The London 2012 Olympics are now in full swing, with athletes from around the world competing for medals in every sport imaginable.
Well… almost every sport imaginable. We are well known for our quirky nature here in Britain – as the opening ceremony showed – and we’re no different when it comes to sport.
If you thought the Olympics had some unusual sports (anyone for a spot of race-walking?), then you’re in for a bit of a shock when you hear some of the sports that Britain has devised over the years.
From splashing around in boggy mires to throwing our breakfast as far as we can, we Brits certainly know how to have a good time. So, if the likes of Olympic badminton and beach volleyball aren’t quite doing enough to satisfy your sporting needs, try these weird and wonderful British sports on for size.
Stinging nettle eating
We might not be very good at some Olympic sports, but we certainly excel at eating a stinging nettle or two.
The annual World Nettle Eating Championship is held in the Bottle Inn pub, Dorset, each year and sees competitors from around the world chomping down on the painful plant.
Contestants are given two-foot long stalks of stinging nettles, and must pluck and eat all the leaves from each one. The winner is the person who has eaten the longest accumulated length of nettles.
The championships are usually held in June, but have put been put back until August 4 this year. So there’s still time to make arrangements and head to Dorset for some eye-watering eating.
Bog snorkelling
If you prefer your weird sports a little less painful and a little more smelly, head over to Wales for the annual bog-snorkelling championships.
Taking place on August 26 this year, the bog-snorkelling championships have earned a considerable reputation through the years and are now even subject to corporate sponsorship. And you thought it was just a lot of silly people splashing around in the mud!
Held in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells, the competition has been going for more than 20 years. The rules of the sport are pretty self explanatory – competitors must snorkel along two consecutive lengths of a peat bog without using conventional swimming strokes.
Black-pudding throwing
Black puddings are a rather divisive component of the traditional English breakfast. Some love the strong, salty taste while others look upon the black discs with a mixture of bewilderment and disgust.
Whatever you think of them, black puddings are apparently rather good for throwing. A traditional food of the North West, the black pudding is celebrated in a very unique way in the town of Ramsbottom.
The World Black Pudding Throwing Championships are to be held on September 9 this year, and see the bloody delicacies thrown at a pile of Yorkshire puddings on a pub roof.
Sounds a little odd? The sport is thought to have developed during the War of the Roses, when the warring counties ran out of weapons.
Conkers
We all remember playing conkers at school, risking life and limb to defeat your opponent by smashing their conker to pieces.
But even the kids with nine-ers or ten-ers are amateur hour compared to the competitors at the World Conker Championships in the village of Ashton, Northamptonshire.
Established in 1965, the championships get bigger with every passing year and now attract conker teams from across the globe.
Thousands of spectators turn out to watch competitors battle it out in knock-out stages, until one is crowned King or Queen Conker. If you fancy your chances, the championships are taking place on October 14 this year.
Cheese rolling
No look at unusual British sports would be complete without a nod to cheese rolling on Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester.
A notoriously dangerous event, the cheese rolling sees competitors race down a steep hill in pursuit of a round of double Gloucester cheese.
While the aim of the races is supposedly to catch the cheese, it gets a one-second head start and picks up real pace, so the winner is the first person across the finish line at the bottom.
Unfortunately you’ll have to wait until next year to be in with a chance of breaking your arm, as the race is held on the spring bank holiday in June (see our feature on Cooper’s Hill cheese-rolling).
(Images: brizzle born and bred, Sylveno, UK Pictures, mrrobertwade, Mr_Benn, alexwardphoto)
