Extreme and Obscure Sports

CHEESE ROLLING:

Yup. You read it right. And yes, it is quite a real sport! It originated in Gloucester, England, where Cooper’s Hill Annual Cheese Rolling remains to be the world’s largest competition. Participants clamor head over heel in pursuit of a 9 pound piece of the local cheese. Competition is often fierce, and injuries are very common. In fact, an ambulance and emergency rescue team are always positioned at the bottom of the hill, ready to treat wounds and carry injured cheese-rollers to the hospital…But at least everyone has a gouda time!

BO-TAOSHI:

Japanese for “pole-pulldown”, a sport similar to capture-the-flag. On a smaller scale, it is played at recess in Japanese schools, but on a larger scale, it is played by the National Defense army of Japan on its anniversary. Each team has 150 people that are divided into 75 attackers and 75 defenders. The goal is to knock down the other teams pole. As you may imagine, it is not a game for the faint of heart, and if you don’t want to be stampeded, it is not a game for you.

VOLCANO BOARDING:

The major place to try this sport out is Leon, Nicaragua, where it was pioneered by an Australian traveller. Volcano boarding is exactly what it sounds. A sports addict with a bold sense of adventure sits down in a plywood toboggan sled and uses nothing but their heels to brake and steer to navigate down the ashy slope of an active volcano. Volcano boarders have reached up to speeds of 90km/hr are possible.

EXTREME IRONING:

Scaling cliff-edges, paddling a canoe, skiing, snowboarding, balancing on statues, dodging cars in busy traffic, deep-sea diving, and even parachuting may not sound hard to the average adventurer… but just try doing it with an iron in your hand. First allegedly developed in a back gardens of Englishman Phil Shaw in 1997, is exactly what it sounds. Brave souls brave all sorts of natural elements in the far reaches of the globe in order to prove that they have the strength, no matter what it takes, to iron a shirt before breakfast is ready.

By Julia Sicard