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Nicole Reardon  In Ancient Rome, sport was associated with gladiatorial battles: physically gruelling tasks, incredible feats of human strength and determination, and battles to the death.
Unpack the issues...
In contrast, the majority of sports played today seem rather mundane. Golf, tennis, cricket, soccer… they don’t quite measure up to the contests of old. Indeed, only the hammer throw and the javelin contain some suggestion of what sporting battles might once have been. However, if you know where to look, there are some sports out there in the world which, while not involving battles to the death, are anything but mundane…and the same applies for their participants. Let’s explore the world’s weirdest and most intriguing sporting events: Human vs. horseNot all sports require strength; the annual Man Versus Horse Marathon requires stamina, agility and determination. Taking place in the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd Wells, the marathon puts human contestants up against mounted horse contestants. It all started in 1980, when a landlord decided to hold the event after having heard two men arguing about whether or not an individual could beat a horse in a cross country race…almost three decades later, contestants still take their horsing-about very seriously. Chess boxingWith the motto, ‘Fighting is done in the ring and wars are waged on the board,’ chess boxing is a sport that requires both strength and intelligence. A combination of both boxing and chess, the different games alternate after each round. A match between two individuals lasts up to eleven rounds, starting with a four minute chess round and followed by two minutes of boxing.
Cheese rolling
Held annually in May in the Cotswolds region of England, the Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake showcases one of the most physically demanding sports involving dairy products: cheese rolling. This sport dates back more than 200 years and follows very simple principles. A Double Gloucester cheese is rolled from the top of a hill and competitors follow suit, aiming to catch it. With virtually no contestants ever catching the cheese, first prize is awarded to the first person to cross the finish line. Squirrel fishingSquirrel fishing involves catching squirrels and attempting to lift them into the air using a peanut tied to a string of fishing line. The sport is believed to have been developed by Harvard scholars, Nikolas Gloy and Yasuhiro Endo during their summer tenure at Middlebury College in Vermont and has become a popular pastime for university students since then. One can only hope that a Doctorate in Squirrel Fishing will be developed soon…
Unpack the issues...Further reading
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