Popular Sporting Events You’ve Never Heard Of
Basketball, tennis, badminton, swimming—these are some of the most popular sports everybody knows about anywhere in the world. But did you know that there are other popular sporting events that are making huge waves nowadays? Most of these sports are never heard of before, so it’s about time to introduce “worm charming”, “frog jumping” and “ultramarathon running” into everyone’s vocabulary.
Ultramarathon Running
An ultramarathon is much longer than your usual 42-km marathon runs. Extreme athletes get attracted to compete in this sport because of the excitement it brings. The distance covered by this sport ranges from 50km to 160 km. In case you do not know it, ultramarathon running is held all throughout the world.
Worm Charming
Defined as the “sport of enticing worms from their burrows”, worm charming is believed to have a more recent origin. Dave Kelland was the person who started this sport in 1983. Stories have it that after a day at the pub, Kelland relieved himself in a field and noticed that worms started coming out to the surface because of his pee. On the other hand, the town of Willaston in Cheshire also has claims on creating the sport in 1980. From this humble beginning, a new sport arose. In fact, a number of competitions all around the world are held annually. There is no international set of rules for this sport, but generally, contestants are given a plot of soil (1-3m) and all they need to do is to surface as many worms as they can within a given period of time (15-30minutes) using various techniques.
Frog Jumping
Although this has not been highlighted in a grand manner, frog jumping has been entertaining people in several parts of the world. Mark Twain made this sport famous when he wrote the short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” in 1865. To be able to play you must know the rules which are rather strict as compared to other unheard-of popular sporting events. Three amphibian competitors will be on stage. Each frog will shall start jumping on the launch pad. Only the frog jockey and his frog are allowed to be in front of the venue. What’s more interesting is this: when the frog jumps into the frog jockey’s equipment or into the jockey himself, it will be disqualified from the competition. The winner will be determined based on the jump distance from the launch pad to the distance of the frog’s three consecutive jumps.