If you've ever wanted to snorkel in a bog, you are in the right place
If you like sport, Britain has many choices – including hang-gliding, bobsleigh and parkour. But there are also sports for people who want something more unusual.
Some need a lot of training, but others are open to anyone who wants to take part – after all, it’s good to stay active! They are also good fun to watch.
- Scotland is famous for a sport called tossing the caber. Players must throw a 5-metre wooden log as far as they can. It is one of the Heavy Weight events in Highland Games that take place in Scotland each year.
- In Wales, people come from around the world to take part in the World Bog Snorkelling Championships. They must swim 60 metres through muddy water as fast as possible.
- Another unusual sport is Worm Charming. People must find ways to get earthworms to come out of the ground, without digging or liquid. Some people manage more than 500 in 30 minutes! The Worm Charming World Championship takes place on a school field in Cheshire.
- In the autumn, are the World Conker Championships. A conker is the name for the inedible nut from a horse chestnut tree (pictured). Players have a conker on a string and they must try to smash the conker of their opponent.
- There has been Cheese Rolling in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, for over 200 years and it is officially an extreme sport. At the end of May each year, competitors chase a circular cheese down a very steep hill. The event was cancelled in 2020 because of coronavirus, but to mark the occasion a Babybel (miniature cheese) was rolled down the hill instead.
- A cider farm near Bridport, Dorset is the location of the annual World Nettle Eating Competition each June. The spiky shenanigans involve contestents consuming as many fresh stinging nettle leaves as possible in half an hour, with only some cider to help wash it all down.
So there we have it, a wide range of interesting and unusual sports. And if you haven’t been tempted to try any of these, there’s a more conventional list of sports (PDF) on the Sport England website.
Image: Artur Luczka/Unsplash
