{"id":2743,"date":"2026-07-23T13:55:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:55:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/?p=2743"},"modified":"2026-07-23T13:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T13:55:25","slug":"5-bizarre-competitions-that-people-actually-take-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/2026\/07\/23\/5-bizarre-competitions-that-people-actually-take-seriously\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Bizarre Competitions That People Actually Take Seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Olympics are weird enough. But wait until you see what happens when regular people decide that chasing cheese down a cliff or snorkelling through a peat bog is a legitimate way to spend a weekend. From Finland to England to the Welsh countryside, grown adults gather every year to compete in events so absurd you’ll assume they’re jokes. They’re not. Here are five bizarre competitions that people actually train for.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Wife-Carrying World Championship \u2013 Finland<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Every summer in Sonkaj\u00e4rvi, Finland, couples from around the world gather for one of the most unusual races in sports. Male competitors carry their female partners across an 830-foot obstacle course filled with water traps, sand pits and wooden barriers. The goal is simple: cross the finish line first without dropping your partner. Couples can choose their own carrying style, from the traditional piggyback to the “Estonian method”, where the woman hangs upside down with her legs over the man’s shoulders. The winner doesn’t get a medal or cash \u2013 they take home the wife’s weight in beer. It’s been running since 1992 and draws hundreds of contestants from around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

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World Gurning Championship \u2013 England<\/span><\/h2>\n

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At the Egremont Crab Fair in Cumbria, people compete to pull the most grotesque, distorted face they can. Contestants have to gurn through a horse collar, known as a braffin, and are judged on how dramatically their face changes. The more terrifying the transformation, the better. The tradition dates back to at least 1852, and one man has dominated the sport. Tommy Mattinson holds the Guinness World Record for the most World Gurning Championship titles with 19 wins, including his latest victory in 2024. He won his first competition at just 11 years old. Pulling ugly faces for a living \u2013 and he’s a world champion.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling \u2013 England<\/span><\/h2>\n

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This is one of the most dangerous and absurd competitions on the planet. Each spring, a 7\u20119 pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese is released from the top of a steep 180\u2011metre hill. The cheese hits speeds of up to 80 mph. Dozens of runners chase it down, tumbling and colliding along the way. The first person to reach the bottom wins the cheese \u2013 and usually a few bruises. No one has ever caught the cheese mid-roll. There’s no registration, no entry fee, just showing up and throwing yourself down a hill. It’s chaos, tradition and determination rolled into one.<\/span><\/p>\n

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World Bog Snorkelling Championships \u2013 Wales<\/span><\/h2>\n

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In Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, nearly 200 participants race through a 120-yard trench cut into a peat bog. Competitors wear snorkels and flippers and swim two lengths of a water-filled trench. The event reportedly started with an argument in a pub in 1985. Swimmers aren’t allowed to use conventional swimming strokes \u2013 they must rely purely on flipper power. The bog is home to frogs, newts and other wildlife, which you get to meet up close while trying not to swallow anything. It’s exactly as glamorous as it sounds.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Air Guitar World Championships \u2013 Finland<\/span><\/h2>\n

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In Oulu, Finland, competitors take the stage with nothing but an invisible guitar and an absolute refusal to feel embarrassed. Contestants are judged on “airness” \u2013 the technical merit, stage presence and sheer commitment to rocking out on an instrument that doesn’t exist. There’s a registration fee, and competitors travel from around the world to compete. The winner gets a real guitar, but the real prize is being crowned the best in the world at pretending to play one. Air guitar isn’t a joke \u2013 it’s a lifestyle.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Olympics are weird enough. But wait until you see what happens when regular people decide that chasing cheese down a cliff or snorkelling through a peat bog is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusives","category-photo-vault","category-weird-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2750,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2743\/revisions\/2750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}