A bit of bog-time reading
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As of Saturday I’ve a new p.b. of 2 mins 36 secs and a lovely new trophy to add to the mantlepiece as I took the ladies’ title for the second time in the bike bog champs held in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales. This is such a good event, the atmosphere was amazing and the organisation brilliant. I intend to go every year now to try and retain my title. Bring on 2011.. I miss you speedo clad sport stars.

When most people go snorkeling, they probably choose sparkling clear blue waters with brightly coloured fish in a nice warm climate. Others travel hundreds of miles from their homes, where the above is actually a reality, to snorkel in a cold, murky, smelly trench dug out of a field in the middle of Wales. There’s only one reason hundreds of people flock to the spot sheep normally graze, and it’s to go to the World Bog Snorkelling Championships. The aim of the game is to swim two lengths (about 110 meters more than 2 lengths of an Olympic size swimming […]

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 […]

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.
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!
