Bizarre Competitions Held Worldwide
People love to compete. It’s part of human nature to test skills, show off talents, and prove who can do something better than anyone else.
But not all competitions involve running fast or scoring goals. Some events are so strange and unexpected that they make you wonder how anyone came up with the idea in the first place.
From rolling cheese down hills to racing with wives on their backs, the world has no shortage of unusual contests that draw crowds and create unforgettable moments.
Let’s look at some of the weirdest competitions people actually participate in around the globe.
Wife Carrying Championship
Finland hosts an annual event where men race through an obstacle course while carrying a woman on their backs. The track is about 830 feet long and includes water obstacles and hurdles.
Winners get their partner’s weight in beer, which makes the prize as unusual as the race itself. The woman doesn’t have to be the carrier’s actual wife, and some competitors choose lighter partners just to improve their chances. This tradition started as a tribute to an old Finnish legend about a gang of thieves who carried women from villages they raided.
Cheese Rolling at Cooper’s Hill
Every year in England, people chase a nine-pound wheel of cheese down a steep hill that’s almost vertical in some spots. The cheese can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour, and runners tumble, slide, and crash their way down trying to catch it.
Most participants end up with injuries ranging from minor bruises to broken bones. The winner gets to keep the cheese, though medical treatment often costs more than the prize is worth. This event has been happening for hundreds of years, and nobody really knows why it started.
Toe Wrestling Matches
England also gave the world toe wrestling, which works exactly like arm wrestling but with feet instead of hands. Competitors lock their big toes together and try to pin their opponent’s foot to the side.
Matches happen in a specially built ring called a toedium, and participants must play with both their left and right feet. The sport was invented in a pub in 1976 by people who wanted Britain to have a sport it could dominate. Athletes take this seriously enough that some train for months and follow strict routines to strengthen their feet.
Baby Crying Contests in Japan
Japan hosts competitions where parents bring their babies to see which one can cry the loudest and longest. Sumo wrestlers hold the infants and try different techniques to make them wail, including making scary faces and loud noises.
Parents believe that a baby’s cry can ward off evil spirits and bring good health. The event is over 400 years old and happens at temples across the country. If a baby refuses to cry, it’s actually considered a good sign for the child’s future.
Air Guitar World Championships
Finland appears again with a competition that celebrates people pretending to play guitar. Contestants perform on stage without any actual instruments, and judges score them on technical skill, stage presence, and how convincing their imaginary playing looks.
The event started in 1996 and has grown into a global phenomenon with national qualifying rounds. Winners take home a custom-made guitar, which is ironic since the whole point is not using a real one. Performers get incredibly creative with their routines, sometimes incorporating costumes and props into their acts.
Bog Snorkeling in Wales
Wales hosts a race where people swim through a muddy trench filled with cold, murky water from a peat bog. Competitors wear snorkels and flippers but cannot use traditional swimming strokes.
The trench is 60 yards long, and swimmers must complete two lengths as fast as possible. Visibility in the water is basically zero, and the cold temperature makes the challenge even harder. The event raises money for charity and attracts both serious athletes and people just looking for a wild story to tell.
Mosquito Killing Championships
Finland strikes again with a contest that crowns the person who can kill the most mosquitoes in five minutes. Participants enter a forest area and use only their hands to swat the insects.
Officials count the dead mosquitoes to determine the winner, and the record stands at 21 kills. The competition started as a joke but became an annual tradition that tourists now travel to watch. Some competitors develop strategies and techniques they claim give them an edge over other hunters.
Beard and Mustache Competitions
These events happen worldwide and celebrate the most impressive facial hair styles people can grow and sculpt. Categories include everything from natural beards to elaborate mustaches shaped into spirals, handlebars, and other wild designs.
Competitors spend months or even years growing and training their facial hair for these contests. Some use special wax, gel, and hairspray to create gravity-defying shapes. The world championships draw hundreds of participants who treat their beards like works of art.
Worm Charming Festivals
England hosts competitions where people try to coax as many earthworms as possible out of the ground in a set time period. Participants get a small plot of soil and can use vibrations, music, or water to bring worms to the surface.
The record stands at 567 worms charmed in 30 minutes. People have tried everything from playing instruments to creating special worm-attracting dances. Scientists actually study these techniques because some methods work surprisingly well at bringing worms up from deep underground.
Extreme Ironing Championships
This sport combines the thrill of extreme activities with the mundane task of ironing clothes. Participants take ironing boards to dangerous or unusual locations like mountain peaks, underwater, or while skydiving.
They must actually iron clothing items while in these locations to count. The sport started as a joke in England but spread worldwide with people constantly trying to find more outrageous places to press their shirts. Competitors have ironed while bungee jumping, surfing, and even on top of moving vehicles.
Mobile Phone Throwing Contests
Finland created yet another odd competition where people throw old mobile phones as far as they can. The sport started in 2000 as a way to relieve frustration with technology.
There are different categories including traditional throw for distance and freestyle throw for creativity. The world record stands at over 330 feet. Organizers provide the phones, and safety rules ensure nobody gets hit by flying devices. Winners receive new phones, which seems counterproductive given the whole point is throwing old ones away.
Cockroach Racing in Australia
Australia hosts races where Madagascar hissing cockroaches compete on a circular track. The first roach to reach the edge of the circle wins, though these insects don’t exactly cooperate with racing.
Spectators can sponsor roaches or bring their own to compete. The event happens on Australia Day and has become a beloved tradition. Some people train their cockroaches for weeks beforehand, though it’s unclear if the insects actually learn anything or just randomly succeed.
Underwater Hockey Tournaments
This sport happens at the bottom of swimming pools where teams use small sticks to push a puck along the pool floor. Players must hold their breath or surface for air while trying to score goals.
The game requires intense physical fitness and the ability to think in three dimensions. Championships happen worldwide with teams from dozens of countries. Players wear snorkels, fins, and gloves, and games move surprisingly fast despite being underwater. The sport started in England in the 1950s and has grown into a serious competitive activity.
Gurning Competitions
Out here in northern England, folks gather every year for a peculiar tradition. Through a wooden frame shaped like a neck brace, contestants push their faces forward, twisting them wildly. Lips flap, eyes squint shut, cheeks puff up—anything goes if it looks bizarre enough.
Missing teeth help, since there are fewer limits on how far the mouth can stretch. This odd spectacle dates back hundreds of years. It unfolds each summer at a countryside fair nestled in Cumbria’s rolling hills. Fame follows victory, spreading fast among neighbors while earning a chance to compete again next season. From one generation to the next, certain households teach old ways of making faces, keeping tricks alive over decades.
Sauna Sitting Endurance
Holding on while sweat pours defines what once drew crowds to Finland’s extreme sauna challenge. Heat climbed past 230 degrees, a test of endurance few attempted. One life lost in 2010 stopped the high-heat version cold.
Sitting motionless under crushing warmth was the only task—outlast others, win. Stillness became strength when every second burned. People kept entering because proving limits mattered more than comfort. Today, milder versions run with watches on heart rates and timers ticking slower. Safety now shapes the experience instead of just speed or pain tolerance. Not quite the same, yet echoes remain.
Strange Things Start Feeling Right at Home Here
Imagine tossing phones instead of playing darts—some odd habit in a bar sparks something bigger. A laughable notion at dinner turns real when crowds show up year after year.
Not every sport needs rules written by experts; sometimes mud, laughter, and timing do fine. Picture folks flying across continents just to race in giant hamster orbs—that actually happens. When humans find joy in jumping sideways or shouting underwater, who’s to say it won’t catch on? Even the strangest pastime can gather fans faster than anyone expects.
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