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Pedal Car Grand Prix

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Jul 21 2007

Held in the main streets of New Milton, the Grand Prix is run on a biennial basis, alternating with Ringwood. It’s a fun event, taking place as an integral part of the town show, but the race is taken quite seriously as these pedal cars have to sustain two hours of racing, testing man and machine to the full! About 40 cars entered so competition was tough. There’s a chicane, pit stops, cheering crowds, a chequer flag, champagne and all you would expect at a grand prix, including a few crashes and mechanical failures, but not enough to slow the […]

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World Pea Shooting Championships

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Jul 20 2007

This international event brings challengers from as far afield as New Zealand and the USA to compete for the World Pea Shooting trophy in Witcham. Accuracy, not distance, is the aim of this competition, with contestants shooting their peas through a 12 inch tube, 12 feet towards a 12 inch target. Made of putty in concentric rings, the peas stick or make a depression so scores could be easily recorded. Competition is fierce and George Hollis, aided by laser technology, was winner of the coveted open class, pipping Alastair Perry who used a traditional pea shooter. Meanwhile, I’d made it […]

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World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championships

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Jul 12 2007

This very unique event takes place in a specially dug peat bog on the outskirts of Llanwrtyd Wells in mid Wales. Started up by local man Gordon Green in 1998, competitors must cycle two lengths of a six foot deep trench which is 45 yards long on a special lead-weighted bike. They must also wear a weighted backpack and dive belt and use a snorkel. The prize? A trophy, but quite simply the honour of being crowned Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Champion of the World. It’s the first time I’ve been tempted to get a little more involved in these […]

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Bog Triathlon

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Jul 12 2007

The same weekend sees competitors battle it out to become the World Champion Bog Snorkelling Triathlete. The race begins with a 7.5 mile run followed by a bog snorkel of 120 yards (breast stroke or crawl not permitted) and ends with a 19 mile cycle ride.  

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Schwing festival

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Jul 12 2007

Schwingen is a Swiss variant of wrestling, and a Swiss national sport. The fight takes place on the ring, a circular area with a diameter of 12 meters that is covered with sawdust. The two opponents wear short pants made of jute over their clothes. Holding each other at these pants the fighters try to throw each other onto their backs. A fight is won when the winner holds the opponent’s pants with at least one hand and both the opponent’s shoulders touch the ground. By tradition the winner brushes the saw dust off the loser’s back after the fight. […]

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Jodlerfest

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Jul 12 2007

Keeping with Swiss tradition, the alphorn, flag throwing and yodeling all being demonstrated at Jodlerfest in a small village outside Lucerne.  

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About this blog

The vast majority of posts in this blog are about quirky & eccentric competitions & festivals. I started it in 2006 in France with a competition I'll never forget. Where contestants battle it out to become the World Champion Pig Squeeler, or 'Cri du Cochon'. I had little knowledge back then of quite how far my pursuit of these kind of events would lead me. I've travelled all over Britain (and occasionally further afield) to capture our curiosities and quirks. There's nothing uniquely eccentric about the British, you'll find people all over the world up to all sorts of weird and wonderful activities, but we do have a remarkable capacity to embrace the madness. 'A Brit Different' is the book that was born from it, my labour of love! So what next? There's always something interesting going on, so watch this space, only time will tell! (Dec 2015)

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