Wetass Sport #41–Bog Snorkelling: Well, why not? You can come up with all sorts of stupid sports in pubs, and this is one of the most successful. This wacko competition was born 19 years ago in the warm beer of Llanwrtyd Wells, in Wales (can you imagine a Welsh version of scrabble?). This is the same place that came up with the man versus horse marathon TWC wrote about earlier this year, so clearly the residents of this place are: a) in the pub alot; and b) pretty creative. Anyhow, bog snorkelling requires the, umm, athlete, to swim (using flipper power alone) two lengths of a 60-yard trench at the Waen Rhydd Peat bog. This year’s competition pulled in 140 competitors from as far away as South Africa, Zambia, Australia and New Zealand. The winner, however, was a Brit, 17-year old Philip John, who won for the third straight year (but failed to lower his bog snorkelling world record of 1 minute 35 seconds). I wonder if he puts “Bog Snorkelling World Champion” on his CV? There’s a mountain biking version, too. These sports should definitely be in the Wetass Olympics (see below)…



Bog Paddle: “Uh-oh. I think a muskrat is chewing on my flipper…”

(Photo: BBC)