The Brits are good at this sort of thing, and their crazy ideas take shape in hundreds weird sports, including tossing the caber, gurning, dyke-jumping, toe-wrestling, extreme ironing, speed hovering, naked bungee-jumping, custard wrestling, willow-warbling, welly-wanging, wetwang-whippeting, wibble-wobbling, fly-swatting, worm-charming, to name but a few in addition to the following three.
Bog-snorkling: world championship held in Llanwrtyd Wells (can anyone pronounce it?) every August since 1995. Contestants have to navigate two lengths in a trench that is 60 yards long through a peat-bog. They wear snorkels and flippers.
Cheese-rolling: Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire annually every May. Not only a round of Double-Gloucester cheese rolls down a steep hill, but the contestants running to catch it find themselves speeding down. Though it seems fun at first thought and sight, it truly dangerous: competitors are severely battered, mainly with ankle injuries. Because of this, there is always an ambulance on duty if first aid is necessary.
The British will go “wild” even for noble reasons. An outstanding example of this is the Great Gorilla Run, held first in 2003. Thousands of people dressed in gorilla suits get together in London and become apes for a day, with a view to saving these creatures.
Vocabulary:
- extraordinarily – szokatlanul, rendkívüli módon
- to take shape – alakot ölt
- trench – árok
- snorkels – búvár pipa
- flippers – békatalp
- contestants – versenyző
- competitors – versenytárs
- ankle – boka
- injuries – sérülés (wound – szúrt, vagy vágott seb)
- ape – emberszabású majom, főemlős
