Bizarre Competitions: 101 Ways to Become a World Champion by Richard Happer
From Goodreads
You don’t have to be Usain Bolt to be a champion of the world. This book describes 101 bizarre and eccentric events that call themselves “World Championships.” They are open to anyone who dares to try but it also takes skill, a lot of passion and even more madness to become crowned champion of the world in these events.
Swamp snorkelling, extreme ironing, coal carrying and pantomime horse racing are just a few of the weird ways to gain ultimate glory. The book provides details on prizes, entry criteria, locations, who the current champions are, the rules of the game and the techniques a challenger has to master to become a weird “sports” world-beater.
For those who want to stay close to home, there are many championship events in North America. Try these:
Outhouse racing, Virginia City, Nevada — For 27 years, costumed teams have pushed, pulled and dragged decorated outhouses down a racetrack. Rock, paper, scissors, various locations — 15 minutes of TV fame at Handemonium championships hosted by the official Rock, Paper, Scissors society. Shovel racing, Angel Fire, New Mexico — Dare-devils race on a shovel down a snowy hill at speeds topping 70 mph. Freestyle alligator wrestling Hollywood, Florida — Competitors have 8 minutes to remove an alligator from a deep pool of water onto land where they will try to outperform each other with dangerous stunts. Buffalo chip toss, Beaver County, Oklahoma — Throw dried cow dung more than 185 feet, 5 inches to beat the current world champion. With the inside knowledge found here, a lot of inspiration and perhaps even some practice, this book has what a challenger needs to become champion of the world. And who doesn’t want that.
ISBN: 9781770858626
Publisher: Firefly Books
Publication date: October 4th 2016
Pages: 256
Review
When I picked up this book it was to fulfil a challenge where I needed to read a book about sports otherwise I wouldn’t have even picked this book up. However, I’m glad I did. The different competitions contained within it range from the interesting to the absolute bizarre. It was a great deal of fun to read as well as being very educational.
It was fun learning about so many strange and unusual sports that people will compete in that most people wouldn’t even entertain the idea of doing. An interesting fact was the number of these competitions which originated in England – that at first glance seemed odd to have had their origins there. Another fact, was the number of competitions which began as a result of discussions between men in a pub. Some of these included, Welly Wanging (pg 36), Stinging Nettle Eating (pg 47), Bog Snorkelling (pg 70), and Lying (pg 242). Other competitions of interest were Caber Tossing which started because a Scottish highlander noticed that a birch tree branch had fallen down so he wanted to see how far he could throw it. Then there was Wife Carrying and Bee Wearing (also called Bearding). This is just a small sample of the competitions covered in this wonderful book.
Recommend for: Everyone and especially those who have a fascination for the weird.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
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