WEIRD SPORTS!!!!

Top 6 weird sporting events

Bog snorkelling to wife carrying - six strangest sports in the world

By TOM PHILLIPS

Competitors in the ring at the World Gravy Wrestling Championship

With the World Gravy Wrestling Championships having just taken place - an event which saw 16 men and eight women grapple in front of a judging panel in 2,000 litres of out-of-date gravy - we take a look at six of the most bizarre sporting events that happen every year...

Alan Gilbert, 27, from Bournemouth gives it his all in the Bog Snorkelling World Championships

Bog Snorkelling
With several events throughout the year in the tiny, boggy mid-Wales town of Llanwrtyd Wells, bog snorkelling draws competitors from far and wide. Exactly why they come from far and wide to spend their time swimming (and, in the Bog Snorkelling Triathlon, cycling) through muddy water in silly costumes is not entirely clear. This year, the event's creator - 74-year-old Gorden Green - finally donned a snorkel himself and took the plunge.

Cheese Rolling
The traditional British summer pastime of chasing a large circle of cheese down a hill so steep that in places it's basically a cliff. Ever year, people gather at Cooper's Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, to chase the cheese. Every year, lots of them get injured. And yet still they come.

Wife carrying: a team demonstrate the 'Estonian' carrying technique at the North American Wife Carrying Championships

Wife Carrying
One of the many daft sports that sees its world championships being held in Finland, which is very much the centre of the daft sport world (see also: the Air Guitar World Championships, the Mobile Phone Throwing World Contest, the Sauna World Championships.) Wife Carrying does not actually imply that the couple are married - non-married pairs can also take part - and the woman is even allowed to carry the man, if that arrangement works better for them.

Joey Chestnut, winning his third straight July 4 hotdog eating contest

Competitive Eating
A year-round sporting contest, this, although it tends to peak around American public holidays. While there are many competitive eaters who all bravely stuff their faces for their sport (even taking on elephants), the main interest revolves around the ongoing rivalry between the USA's Joey Chestnut and Japan's Takeru Kobayashi - very much the Federer and Nadal of the eating world. Currently, Chestnut holds the upper hand, having triumphed in this year's Fourth of July hot-dog eating contest, but only a fool would write Kobayashi off completely.

The Mud Pit Belly Flop, as performed by Redneck games competitor Barbara 'Redneck Queen' Bailey

The Redneck Games

The Redneck Games draws 10,000 competitors and spectators to the small town of East Dublin in Georgia each year - where they take part in such noted events as the mud pit belly flop, bobbing for pig's feet, making farting noises with your armpit, and spitting watermelon seeds.

Contenders ready: Umbrellas are drawn for the bicycle jousting competition

The Chap Olympiad
Very much a counterpoint to the Redneck Games - this year, they were held on the same weekend - this 'celebration of athletic ineptitude and immaculate trouser creases' takes place in London's classy Bloomsbury neighbourhood. Events include umbrella bicycle jousting, cucumber sandwich discus, quill throwing and the Martini knockout relay.

HAVE A GREAT DAY

RC