Bog Snorkelling Championships

Bog Snorkelling

Bog Snorkelling Championships

Bog Snorkelling Championships

Bog Snorkelling Championships

Bog Snorkelling Championships

Article by: © Michael J. Rosen 2010

"[There's] Visibility Zero...Rather Like Swimming in Bug-Infested Soup."

- from the Bog Snorkelling official Web site

At the annual World Bog Snorkelling Championships, a charity event held since 1985, almost 170 competitors test the waters of the Waen Rhydd Bog in the small Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells. True, "Waen," "Rhydd," and "Llanwrtyd" do sound like words bubbling out of a snorkel-but that's understandable, considering swimmers aren't allowed to have their heads above water for anything more than a moment of orienteering as they race to complete two lengths of a 60-yard peat bog channel. Those with self-respect (and a more than a passing interest in winning) generally wear a wetsuit, along with the required snorkel and flippers. Other competitors don inflatable sumo suits, military camouflage, tea dresses, or even a nun's habit. So how hard could the Championships be?

"A lot harder than I expected," one curvaceous man in a flouncy skirt admitted, "Especially carrying a handbag."

Purse or no purse, competitors inevitably look ridiculous while dog-paddling (conventional swim strokes are illegal) through the bog's thick slime and muck, complete with the occasional newt.

Of the world-wide entrants who arrive for the Wales's Bank Holiday event, most are avid swimmers or play underwater hockey. Some are just kids (the minimum age is fourteen). Others are just kidding (one snorkeler made the grungy plunge in his footie pajamas). Some are far from kids (one woman competed in celebration of her 70th birthday). Still others are all about winning.

"I have got to be good at something," said Iain Hawkes who didn't graduate from the U.K.'s equivalent of high school or college. "But I am the champion of bog snorkeling," the 2008 winner proclaimed. Sure, Hawkes took the 2008 title, but his effort wasn't enough to toss Joanne Pitchfork's world record time of 1:35.18 minutes from its algae-strewn, moss-covered thrown.

Can't imagine getting bogged down in Wales? What about in Northern Ireland or Australia, where they also host championships? For more, visit: www.green-events.co.uk or www.bogsnorkelling.com.

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