There's some Crazy Sports out there

WOLF ANGEL

WOLF ANGEL

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There are many Competition Sports across the World that are viewed as being somewhat Wierd, yet rather quaintly Wonderful.

Across the globe there are those based on 'local' traditions that are more than a tad strange - yet have both a longevity of taking place and have some serious participants/

So whichever continent it be, here are a few - And so to begin with one to charm you with , .....
 

Worm Charming Championship

Sure, the ability to attract worms might sound like something that could be considered the worst superhero power of all time, but every year the Worm Charming Championship brings together hundreds of people of all ages to see whose powers are the strongest.

The competition lasts 30 minutes and contestants use whatever techniques they can think of, including poking the ground with pitchforks and playing the bongos, to raise as many worms as they can to surface of their designated section.

The first Worm Charming Championship was held in 1980 but it’s since grown to become quite a celebrated sport in some parts of the Nation.

  • The current world record was set by a 10-year-old girl who managed to raise and incredible 567 worms in 2009.
 
Bee-Wearing Competition:

As you might imagine, a challenge where you compete to see who can hold the most live bees on their body doesn’t attract too many contestants.

1755987646335.png...1755987728499.png

In 2011, there were only two people who registered for the event that took place in Shaoyang City, China.
Wearing nothing but shorts, goggles and nose plugs, 42-year-old Wang Dalin and 20-year-old Lc Kongjiang each stood on a scale and used a queen bee to attract as many regular bees on their bodies as possible in one hour.

Within minutes, swarming bees pick up the scent of the queen and form a living full-body suit around the competitors.
In the end, it was Dalin who managed to beat out Kongjiang by attracting 26 kilograms of bees to his body.
But despite his courageous efforts, he wasn’t able to claim the bee-wearing world record.
 

Chess Boxing

For anyone who’s ever been so frustrated by an opponent in chess that they wished they could leap across the board and beat the snot out of them, this just might be the ideal sport for you.

Chess boxing is a hybrid fighting sport where opponents alternate between rounds spent playing chess and boxing.

Though it was originally conceived by a Dutch artist who intended it to be piece of performance art, it quickly grew into a a full-fledged competitive sport complete with announcers, commentators, ring girls, and even an affiliation with major television sports networks like ESPN.

 
Nailympia

1755988974124.png

You may think you’ve seen some people with crazy finger nails in your day, but you really haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen some Nailympia contestants. There are several different events that take place at the competition, but the one that really generates the most buzz is the fantasy nail category, where contestants are encouraged to be as imaginative and unusual as possible.

Participants have one hour to do their nails and put together the rest of their outfit to match their chosen theme.
Many even build elaborate backdrops which they attach to their forearms to further emphasize their nails.


In the past, there has been a huge variety of nail themes ranging from a World War I commemoration to an African safari that looks a whole lot closer to a diorama than a manicure.
 
World Gurning Championship

Gurning contests are a long-standing tradition in rural England.
The most notable competition by far is the World Gurning Championship held annually at the Ergemont Crab Fair, - which dates back all the way to 1267 when King Henry III granted the fair a Royal Charter.

When it comes time to gurn (make an ugly face) contestants traditionally frame their faces through a horse collar—another tradition known as “gurning through a braffin.” The gurners who typically get the highest scores from judges are those with no teeth, as this permits them greater freedom of motion to contort their lips and jaws to make extremely wacky faces.

Anne Woods

--- Image source,Guiness World Records

Anne Woods has won the competition for being the 'biggest gurner' a record 27 times between 1977 and 2010!

Tommy Mattinson and other gurners

--- Image source,Egremont Crab fair

These fine gents are all big on the gurning scene. The man in the middle is Tommy Mattinson, who has bagged the title 15 times! Tommy is wearing a Braffin or horse collar, this is all part of the tradition and the gurners put it on when they present their gurn to the judges.
 
Adrian Zivelonghi

--- Image source,Egremont Crab fair

Adrian Zivelonghi took the 2016 title with this powerful gurn face. You can really see the concentration on Adrian's face....you can also see his false teeth popping out of his mouth. 10/10 from Newsround, Adrian!

Egremont Crab fair

--- Image source,Egremont Crab fair

No one really knows how, when and where gurning began! But the earliest record of gurning competitions can be traced back to the Egremont Crab Fair in Egremont, in Cumbria way back in 1267. Some say gurning started before that but no one can really be sure.
  • All we know is, its weird, funny and everyone seems to enjoy it.
 
Extreme Ironing

Part extreme sport, part performance art and part household chore, extreme ironing is an exciting and dangerous sport where willing participants demonstrate their ability to get rid of clothing creases in unusual and perilous environments.

It was started in 1997 in Leicester, England, by Phil Shaw who, after coming home from a hard day’s work, decided he’d rather go rock climbing than complete his scheduled ironing. Whether it was a stroke of genius or just a regular stroke is unclear, but Shaw figured, what the heck? Why not just combine the two.

A couple years later he embarked on an international tour to promote the activity and today extreme ironing enthusiasts from around the world are posting pictures online of them ironing their laundry on mountainsides, underwater, while skiing and even during free fall. And because it isn’t an official league, anyone can compete for top honors at any given time. You just need to combine the thrill of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt.

 
WOLF ANGEL said:
Bee-Wearing Competition:

As you might imagine, a challenge where you compete to see who can hold the most live bees on their body doesn’t attract too many contestants.

View attachment 444916...View attachment 444917

In 2011, there were only two people who registered for the event that took place in Shaoyang City, China.
Wearing nothing but shorts, goggles and nose plugs, 42-year-old Wang Dalin and 20-year-old Lc Kongjiang each stood on a scale and used a queen bee to attract as many regular bees on their bodies as possible in one hour.

Within minutes, swarming bees pick up the scent of the queen and form a living full-body suit around the competitors.
In the end, it was Dalin who managed to beat out Kongjiang by attracting 26 kilograms of bees to his body.
But despite his courageous efforts, he wasn’t able to claim the bee-wearing world record.
Click to expand...

Oh my goodnessssss, Noooooooooooooo ! That is SO SCARY!
 
CaliS said:
Oh my goodnessssss, Noooooooooooooo ! That is SO SCARY!
Click to expand...
  • If you think that's scary ....
World Sauna Championships

Think you’ve got what it takes to be a world class schvitzer? Then you should book a trip to Heinola, Finland, where every summer competitors from various countries take part in an endurance contest to see who can sit the longest in a 230 degree sauna.

Finland is home to over 1.7 million saunas so, needless to say, its citizens enjoy the heat a little more than in other parts of the world.
The competition lasts for two days, divided into five rounds for men and three rounds for women. Every 30 seconds a half-liter of water is added to sauna to keep the steam flowing and challengers must sit up straight with their thighs and buttocks on the seat.

They cannot touch any surface with their hands and forearms have to be in an upright position and must stay on their knees.
The person who sits longest and is able to walk out of the sauna under their own power is declared the winner.

  • Although a doctor’s note is required from all participants, one participant actually did die in the 2010 Championships, prompting organizers to discontinue the event.
 
WOLF ANGEL said:
  • If you think that's scary ....
World Sauna Championships

Think you’ve got what it takes to be a world class schvitzer? Then you should book a trip to Heinola, Finland, where every summer competitors from various countries take part in an endurance contest to see who can sit the longest in a 230 degree sauna.

Finland is home to over 1.7 million saunas so, needless to say, its citizens enjoy the heat a little more than in other parts of the world.
The competition lasts for two days, divided into five rounds for men and three rounds for women. Every 30 seconds a half-liter of water is added to sauna to keep the steam flowing and challengers must sit up straight with their thighs and buttocks on the seat.

They cannot touch any surface with their hands and forearms have to be in an upright position and must stay on their knees.
The person who sits longest and is able to walk out of the sauna under their own power is declared the winner.

  • Although a doctor’s note is required from all participants, one participant actually did die in the 2010 Championships, prompting organizers to discontinue the event.
Click to expand...
That's just stupid. The bees (for me) are SCARY!!!!! ;)
 
Tunarama Festival:

Held annually each January in Port Lincoln, Australia, the Tunarama Festival is a competition to determine just how far a person can chuck ..... a frozen tuna.

Amazingly, a full-fledged celebration is centered around the event, complete with a wide array of arts and cultural displays, other participation events, local market stalls, and some of the freshest seafood in the world.

Fortunately for the dwindling tuna population, 2007 was the last year that real tunas were used in the competition.
Since then people only throw artificially made fake tunas—which, oddly enough, might make the competition even more bizarre.

 
jujube said:
Ferret Legging. Competitors don white canvas pants that tie at the waist and ankles and then put a live ferret in their pants. The last person left "standing" wins. Apparently the last competition was in 2010. I can certainly understand why it's not being considered for an Olympic sport.
Click to expand...
Ah yes =
Ferret Legging:

Even competitors would likely agree that ferret legging is an objectively ridiculous sport. In this British-based competitive endurance test participants place two live, sharp-fanged, razor-clawed ferrets inside their trousers, cinch the ankles and belt shut, and see how long they can take the grueling onslaught. Which usually isn’t long as ferrets are notorious for being hyperactive, incredibly ornery, and utterly determined to get out of any confined situation. It’s astounding anyone would volunteer to participate in this event at all, let alone last for hours.

And yes, participants have been known to last hours. In fact, the current record stands at more than five hours of ferret-filled agony, making this what has to be one of the most painful endurance tests out there.

Additionally, competitors cannot be drunk or drugged to help cope with the pain, nor can the ferrets be sedated, and competitors can only touch the ferrets from the outside of their trousers.

But one man’s trial (and competitors are almost all men, for various reasons, including anatomic and simple basic female common sense) is another man’s egg toss, and even this bizarre event has found global charm.
  • Is that a Ferret in your trousers? (1981 Archieve)
 
Wife Carrying

The Wife Carrying World Championship, held annually in Sonkajärvi, Finland, was inspired by a 19th-century legend of a notorious local cad who was said to steal wives from nearby villages.
- Today, thankfully, the men don’t actually steal wives, but instead carry their “stolen” spouses through an obstacle-laden track, which often involves water pits and hurdles.

The goal is simple: carry your partner through the course in the fastest time possible.
  • The prize? Your wife’s weight in beer.
Not only does wife carrying require Norse god-like physical strength, but also proper balance, a thoughtful strategy, deft spousal communication, and, of course a healthy sense of humor.

-
2025:
The Wife-Carrying World Championship wrapped up in Finland, with a US couple beating nearly 200 contestants from 18 countries to take home the crown.

 
Dwarf Throwing / Midget Tossing
-
The sport of Dwarf Throwing had a short though popular history in the north of Australia.
As far as we know, it was stopped following complaints from some sections of society - I wonder why?


Apparently the dwarfs did not mind at all.
The competition required the dwarf to be placed in a harness for ease of throwing, and a soft landing place was erected.
- The winner was based on distance thrown.

A dwarf tossing competition was shown in the movie 'Wolf of Wall Street'. In the Martin Scorsese film about corrupt stockbroker Jordan Belfort, the trader and his colleagues hurl small people wearing velco at a cloth target.


Dwarf-tossing - Wikipedia
 
The Bubble Baba Challenge:

In this bizarre sporting event dreamt up by Russian Dmitry Bulawinov, contestants paddle through the rapids of a Russian river using blow-up dolls as floatation devices.

The event was first held in 2003, and by 2011 it was attracting close to 1000 competitors.

Sadly, in 2012 it was banned by authorities due what they claim was public safety concern involving “dangerously high water levels.” - However, organizers disputed the ban, claiming that it was merely an effort by the government to clamp down on mass gatherings.

According to Bulawinov, the idea of floating down the river in the embraces of a rubber woman was originally conceived as a joke at a party where the men got drunk.
A very honest and unsurprising explanation.

 
Cheese Rolling

Whoever thought to roll a giant cheese wheel down a steep, rocky hill and have people chase after it is a story for another time. But the fact that someone did—and centuries later it’s still wildly popular—just goes to show you the peculiar workings of the human mind.

The annual Cheese Rolling event in Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire, England, dates back to the 1800s. Participants sprint, tumble, and, more often than not, simply fall down a treacherously steep hill in pursuit of a single 9-pound wheel of Double Gloucester.

The “winner” is the first to cross the finish line, with or without the cheese. Yes, winners get to keep the cheese, but that’s the only reward for endangering life and limb.

Make no mistake: despite the simple rules, Cheese Rolling is an extremely dangerous, and yet strangely popular, competition. The high degree of difficulty, real threat of bodily harm, and generally chaotic scene make for an outrageous spectacle that draws dozens of international participants and thousands of spectators.

While almost no one ever catches the cheese, it’s not impossible. In fact, someone manages to secure the wheel before reaching the bottom of the hill every 8 years, which is shocking when you consider that it gets a one second head start and can reach speeds of over 70 mph.
  • 2025 Highlights (May 26th)
 
Bog Snorkeling

Up on the coast sits Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, a town famous for quirky sporting events, including mountain bike chariot races where competitors strap a wheelbarrow to two bikes and race dressed like an ancient Roman; the self-explanatory Man vs Horse marathon; and finger jousting.

Every August, the World Bog Snorkeling Championships comes to town.

In competitive bog snorkeling, swimmers race through a water-filled trench in a peat bog. Snorkels and flippers are allowed, but traditional swimming strokes like the breaststroke are forbidden, leaving competitors dog paddling through the 60-yard course.

All of which makes it far more physically demanding than you might think. Plus there’s the disorientation and possible claustrophobia induced by snorkeling through frigid, muddy water with near-zero visibility.

To add to the day’s whimsy (and competitors’ challenges), participants often dress in silly costumes, such as Ken and Barbie, lobsters and mermaids, and turtles.

These get-ups tend to be low-tech and heavy. Like many competitions on this list, winning brings only bragging rights, and a rich dose of the absurd.

 

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