How good are you at mud soccer, cherry pit spitting or throwing mobile phones? They're just some of the bizarre activities that you could become world champion in - with a little practice.
Image: www.wattoluempia.de
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5 activities you probably didn't know hold world championships
How good are you at mud soccer, cherry pit spitting or throwing mobile phones? They're just some of the bizarre activities that you could become world champion in - with a little practice.
Image: www.wattoluempia.de
Cherry pit spitting
Legend has it that someone once died from spitting a cherry pit from a balcony so forcefully that they fell down after it. They received the Darwin Award for the stupidest way to die. It would be better to stay on the ground and participate in the cherry pit spitting contest held every year in the Rhineland region of German. The current world record is 21.71 meters (71.23 feet).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Trash can racing
In the idyllic town of Hermeskeil in Germany, people jump on ordinary trash cans and ride them down a hill. It takes a great deal of skill to make it the entire way down without touching the ground with your feet or the lid. Racers even reach speeds of up to 60 kph (37 mph). Trash bins hold between 80 and 240 liters (21 - 63 gallons), although a mid-sized can of 120 liters is best for balancing.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Cell phone throwing
Ever get angry at your mobile? Once a year, you could head to Savonlinna to Finland to throw it and get your rage out. Since the annual contest could get expensive, though, participants toss old phones heavier than 220 grams rather than smartphones. In addition to the classic distance throw, there is also a freestyle contest, which is judged on creativity, as well as contests for teams and kids.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Sirkka
Handbag throwing
Known as the Handtaschen-Weitwurf-Weltmeisterschaft in German, the annual purse throwing contest in Bottrop is abbreviated as HTWWWM. Inventor and organizer André Puchta came up with the idea after witnessing a bag being stolen in a Cologne café. There are four disciplines in the championship: throw between the legs, discus-style, freestyle, and crank throw where the arm is rotated vertically.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Seidel
Wattolümpiade
The so-called Wattolümpiade, or mud Olympics, are taking place for the 12th time from July 30 - 31 in Brunsbüttel in northernmost Germany. Tickets for participants reportedly sold out within just one minute. Mud fans that didn't luck out can still prove their mud capabilities by taking part individually in parkour.
Image: www.wattoluempia.de
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They show up once a year during low tide at the mud flats near Brunsbüttel in northernmost Germany. Hundreds of mud lovers - known as "Wattleten" - gather at the mouth of the Elbe River for an unusual competition. This year, some 400 Wattleten are expected, along with thousands of spectators, for the annual "Wattolümpiade" - the mud Olympics.
The event incorporates a variety of sport disciplines, including mud soccer, mud handball, mud volleyball, and mud sled races.
The biggest difficulty is getting any traction in the knee-deep sludge, which often makes it look like the participants are moving in slow motion. But they have to hurry because they have just four hours before the tide shifts and the tidal banks are covered in water, ending the festivities.To make sure the matches stay on schedule, the refs will call a mud soccer game after just seven minutes, for example.
Another challenge is identifying the opposing team. After just a few seconds of play, and everyone is completely covered in mud from head to toe, with both teams looking the same.
Rumor has it that it takes days to get the sludge out of every crease, wrinkle and body cavity.
Dirty sports for a good cause
The best teams vie against each other in the final round for an eel relay. No, don't worry; they don't use an eel as a relay baton, but rather a rice-filled bicycle tube.
The Wattolümpiade was first held in 1978, though it started off as just a casual contest among friends. But when initiator Jens Rusch got cancer in the early 2000s, he stepped up the event, turning it into a cancer benefit for others in his situation.
Today, the Wattolümpiade and the Wattstock music festival that takes place at the same time continue to raise money for cancer patients.
Northern Germans, however, aren't the only ones to stage an unusual world championship. Click through the gallery above for some more crazy examples.
