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Bed Race in Knaresborough 2011
More than 25,000 people have gathered in Knaresborough to watch an event where wacky racers run through a town carrying someone in a bed.
The 46th annual Great Knaresborough Bed Race saw 90 teams of bed-carrying racers taking part, with some coming from as far as Germany and the USA.
Each team has to complete the gruelling three-mile course with their beds and while some racers go all out for speed, others are more fussed by the best dressed bed award.
We will let you work out which of these beds are built for speed and which took the course a a more leisurely pace.
A spokesperson for the organisers, the Knaresborough Lions, said they hoped the event had this year raised around £100,000.
Bed Race in Knaresborough 2011
Bed Race in Knaresborough 2011
Bed Race in Knaresborough 2011
A siesta is a short nap taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal. Such a period of sleep is a common tradition in some countries, particularly those where the weather is warm. The word siesta is Spanish, from the Latin hora sexta – "the sixth hour" (counting from dawn, therefore noon, hence "midday rest").
A doctor checks as people sleep a siesta during the first Siesta Championship in Madrid. The participants of the siesta contest win points for the first person to fall asleep, the loudest snorer, best original sleeping position and best dressed sleeper
The competitors started off by lying down. On blue sofas. Some in pajamas. Most fast asleep and a few on the verge of snoring.
What is billed as Spain's first national siesta championship is underway in Madrid.
It's something of a wake-up call for a country that's become so fast-paced that many say the traditional siesta is at risk.
"The modern life is a danger that we feel is against the siesta. When you sleep la siesta everyone has the image that your life is calm, you have a good life. And then, the modern life is a direct attack," said Daniel Blanco, president of the National Association of Friends of the Siesta.
His group, which includes about 50 of his friends across Spain, persuaded a shopping center, Islazul, to host and pay prize money for the siesta competition.
Nursing assistant Sara Ruz, 22, was one who stepped up to defend the siesta.
She gobbled down a quick lunch of fried chicken from a shopping center stand, not mentioning that it's just that kind of rushing which is blamed for hurting the siesta.
Ruz then went to the competition area. A doctor attached a pulse meter to her chest so the judge, sitting in a lifeguard-type chair overlooking the five sofas, could tell whether she's really asleep.
In this competition, the siesta is limited to 20 minutes, a duration which the organizers and some doctors say is optimal; a quick nap after lunch to get refreshed, without entering a deep sleep cycle.
But the traditional siesta in Spain often lasts an hour or more.
Hundreds of contestants are expected in the siesta championship which began October 14 and continues through October 23.
The intricate rules award points to contestants depending on how long they sleep during the 20-minute competition time, any unusual positions they sleep in, eye-catching pajamas they might be wearing, and yes, a lot of extra points for snoring.
The bustling shopping center where the siesta championship is being held is a prime example of the changing times in Spain. The stores don't close at lunchtime -- which is what used to happen with Spanish shops -- so instead of sleeping the siesta, people are working or shopping.
Siesta lovers complain that Spain's frenetic push to compete in the global economy means longer, more pressure-package workdays, even if some Spanish workers still get a two-hour lunch break.
But Ashraf Laidi, chief market strategist for CMC Markets of London, said on a visit to Madrid, "The Spanish are basically trying to have their cake and eat it too. They're trying to be very Europeanized and at least in part keep some of the traditions."
"This is 2010," Laidi continued. "We're talking about the potential of a collapsing euro. We're talking about surging debt, and people are still wanting to preserve the tradition of sleeping while the rest of the world is working?"
Spain's 20 percent unemployed might reluctantly have more time for siesta right now.
But not Fermin Lominchar, a construction masonry worker who rarely takes a siesta, although he won the first round in the siesta competition.
"The Spanish siesta is in danger. Because you have to work a lot to earn money here."
Back at the couches, the doctor woke up Sara Ruz from her siesta. She said she did finally fall asleep, despite the shopping center noise and onlookers, because she's accustomed to siesta time.
A grand siesta champ will be chosen by October 23 by the public, including internet voting.
The first cash prize is €1,000, about $1,400, in credit to purchase goods at the shopping center. Spanish media have given a lot of attention to the championship.
But will it be enough to save the Spanish tradition of the siesta ?
Source And Video : CNN
The European Beard and Moustache Championships 2010 in Leogang, Austria town hosts European beard contest - 'Full natural' and 'freestyle' were among the categories that had hirsute types primping, preening - and even blow-drying - their facial tresses for a stab at the top title in the weekend's European Beard and Moustache Championship.
Attracting around 150 proud beard and moustache owners from eight countries, the whiskery face-off took place in the Austrian town of Leogang.
According to reports, the event's only hairy moment (so to speak) happened when a losing Italian team tried to get the competition declared void, claiming their country invented the 'sport' in the 1970s and refusing to recognise new rules.
Men with beards and big moustaches look very manly and this sort of squabbling is unbecoming in men of hair,' remarked one wise official amid the furore.
Austria's beardy bonanza follows a distinctly more 'buzzing' tournament across the pond.
At Ontario's recent Clovermead Bees & Honey Bee Beard Competition , Tibor Szabo emerged triumphant while the losers were left feeling a bit stung (sorry).
In case the concept passed you by, the competition requires entrants to 'grow' a beard by placing a queen bee in a small cage underneath their chin, attracting the worker bees.
Source : AFP
Bog Snorkelling Championships World Record is a sporting event that consists of competitors completing two consecutive lengths of a 60-yard (55 m) water filled trench cut through a peat bog, in the shortest time possible. Competitors must wear snorkels and flippers, and complete the course without using conventional swimming strokes, relying on flipper power alone. Wet suits are not compulsory, but are usually worn.
163 competitors from around the world - many in fancy dress, as is encouraged by the competitions organisers - took part in the event, completing two lengths of a trench in the murky Waen Rhydd Bog near Llanwrtyd Wells, mid Wales.
Crowds of spectators watched as Dan Morgan, from Brecon, destroyed the previous record time by almost eight seconds, completing the 110 metre course in 1 minute 30.66 seconds.
Organisers had anticipated fast times as the trenches had recently been cleaned.
Llanwrtyd Wells, the UK's smallest town, is noted for its unusual sporting events, also hosting the Man Versus Horse Marathon and a bog snorkelling triathlon, which includes a seven and a half mile run and a 19-mile bike ride, as well as two lengths of the infamous bog.
Organiser John Crompton said: 'It was a good turnout. Everyone had a good time. The weather was pretty miserable to start with. It was wet and rainy and the rain was coming down horizontally. By the end of the day it brightened up.'
Asked to explain the event's increasing popularity, Crompton said: 'The potential of being a world champion at something, I suppose. There's not many things you can be world champion at without any preparation, you can just jump in and swim.'
Source :- Fun Swim Shop
Fighters have battled it out in over 1,000 litres of gravy as part of the 4th annual World Gravy Wrestling Championships.
Dozens of competitors - all in fancy dress - attended the Lancashire event to grapple with each other in the 14ft pool filled with gravy an inch deep.
As over 1,000 fans cheered them on, points were awarded for wrestling skill, fun factor and the entertainment value in the two minute bouts.
Organisers say all the gravy used is made to a traditional Lancashire recipe and they get through over 1,000 litres during the day.
Elliot Rooke, dressed as a bunny girl, took the men's title while the female winner was Elisa Samson who had fought as Little Bo Peep -- In odd news neither of them will ever want a Sunday Roast again.
Source :- Oddity Central Via Newslite
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