Strangest Competitions Around the World (and What it’s Worth to Win)

Location: All Over The World
Cost to Enter: Varies Based On Entry*
Prize: Bragging Rights

When speaking about strange competitions from around the world, extreme ironing is a great place to start, because, frankly, there aren’t many sports that are more out there than ironing one’s clothes while ski-diving or in the midst of repelling down the side of a mountain.  

The Extreme Ironing World Championships @coolofthewild / Pinterest.com

As a sport, extreme ironing has been around since 1997, when it was introduced by Leicester, England’s, Phill Shaw. 5 years later, in 2002, the first Extreme Ironing World Championship was held in Valley, Bavaria. Contestants are judged based on the extremeness of how they’ve chosen to iron their clothes, as well as how well the clothing has been ironed.

Location: Finland
Cost to Enter: $57*
Prize: The Carried Partner’s Weight In Beer

Centuries ago, as a reward for contests won, and good deeds done, people would have been offered their own weight in gold. In Sonkajarvi, Finland, the organizers of one of the world’s strangest races, the Wife Carrying World Championships, have found a way to keep that tradition alive, sort of. 

The Wife Carrying Race @funtimenetwork / Pinterest.com

Now, no longer limited to male/female pairings, racers must carry their partners (of, at least, 108.27 pounds) across a course that covers more than 250 yards of obstacles, wet and dry. Now comes the fun part. The partner on the winning pair who was carried is placed on a teeter-totter and balanced with an equal weight of beer on the other side, which happens to be the team’s prize.

Location: England
Cost to Enter: $1.35*/ 3 attempts
Prize: Pride

Some rivalries die hard, while some fade off silently into oblivion. The centuries-old War of the Roses, between Yorkshire and Lancashire, may have ended with bloodshed in the past, but, in the 1980s, a new tradition was founded. One that traded in the blood for blood pudding.

The World Black Pudding Throwing Championships @vincentcole_ / Pinterest.com

Every year, on the 2nd Sunday of September, people from all over the world gather at the Oaks pub in order to hurl black pudding 20-feet into the air, in hopes of knocking down as many Yorkshire puddings as they can from the top of a plinth (a tall pedestal). For a small fee of $1.35 for 3 attempts participation is open to everyone

Location: Amazon Rainforest
Cost to Enter: $3,140*
Prize: Finishers Medal

If running a regular marathon on city streets wasn’t tough enough, ultra-athletes have been testing their athleticism, and luck, by racing through Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest. The Jungle Marathon tests its competitors, from start to finish, with temperatures of over 100 degrees and the unique challenges of each one of the Amazon’s relentless terrains.

The Jungle Marathon @Michele Kong / Facebook.com

Racers can choose to compete in the 26.2, 79, or 158-mile races, but they do so while knowing the dangers that lie ahead. “The World’s Most Dangerous Race” was given that title for a reason. Some racers have recounted tales of being stalked by jungle cats through portions of the race, as a result, race organizers have stationed armed guards around the course to protect the racers from predators.

Location: Various Locations Across USA and Europe
Cost to Enter: $20*
Prize: A Shiny Plaque & Bragging Rights

Men (and some women) have been growing, and maintaining, their beards in fantastic ways for thousands of years, but have seldom been given any recognition for their efforts. That all changed, in 1990, when the World Beard and Moustache Association held the first World Beard and Moustache Championships in the small German village, Hofen an der Enz.

The World Beard And Moustache Championships @Jan Hetfleisch / gettyimages.com

With category styles ranging anywhere from Musketeer to Full Beard Freestyle, the World Beard and Moustache Championship features contestants from 17 different stylistic groups, so there is a category for pretty much anyone, with facial hair, who wants to enter. Be forewarned, anyone caught using gels or waxes in the natural categories will be immediately disqualified.

Location: Finland
Cost to Enter: Cost of The Cell Phone Being Tossed
Prize: New Cell Phone

Now a worldwide phenomenon, and one of Finland’s national sports, cell phone throwing can be traced back to the year 2000, when people gathered in Savonlinna, Finland, for the world’s first Cell Phone Throwing World Championships. Those who wish to enter the contest must bring their own mobile phone for throwing, and one heck of a throwing arm.

Cell Phone Throwing Wolrd Championships @gmi1234 / Pinterest.com

Participants are judged by an official jury that allots points based on the technique and, more importantly, the distance of their toss. The winner of the Cell Phone Throwing World Championships wins a new cell phone, while those who compete but don’t win get to buy theirs themselves. Before deciding to compete, just know, the current world record is just over 320-feet.

Location: Anywhere
Cost to Enter: Unknown
Prize: Trophy, Cash, and a Feature in Scratch Magazine

A child of the Nail Olympics, Olympia began in 2001, and has now been taking people’s breath away for 20 years. One of the things that people enjoy most about this contest is that all of the products are unique and created for the sole purpose of the competition. 

Olympia Beauty @goddess_glow / Pinterest.com

The competition is judged by fashion industry professionals who know very little about nail art, but who are there to have a good time. It’s possible to submit entries for the 14 different categories from any location around the world, and the winner doesn’t just get a nice new addition for their case, they also get featured in THE nail magazine, Scratch.

Location: Las Vegas
Cost to Enter: $20*
Prize: $50,000 in Cash*

Rock, paper, scissors has been used as a method to help people make decisions for quite some time, and while some people believe there is science, or psychology, behind why people select the items which they do, the fact of the matter is, the odds are always the same for both participants.

USA Rock Paper Scissors League ©unbfacts / Instagram.com

The USARPS, or United States of America Rock Paper Scissors League, was established more than 15 years ago, and in 2006, held the very first USARPS League Championship, which was televised by A&E. The league had trained referees who would monitor and officiate the matches. It looks like rock, paper, scissors should have been left to the amateurs, however, as the league went defunct back in 2014.

Location: Shaoyang, China
Cost to Enter: Unknown
Prize: Unknown

When the majority of people see a bee they, usually, do what they can to get away from it. In Shaoyang, China, there’s a competition in which contestants do the exact opposite. Standing on a scale, and wearing nothing more than shorts, goggles, and, for obvious reasons, nose plugs, participants are given 1 hour to see how many bees they could attract onto their person. 

@r/pics / Reddit.com

This is done by placing the queen bee of a colony into a small safe box and strapping it to their body. The 2011 champion managed to attract a little more than 52 pounds of bees – the 42-year old winner, Wang Dalin, must be a pretty sweet guy.

Location: Various Locations Across the USA
Cost to Enter: $10*
Prize: Custom-Made Guitar

Ever since there have been guitar music to listen to, there have been people who have pretended to play along with the music they’re listening to. In the 1970s and 1980s, there was even a youth movement that was based around metal-heads bringing cardboard cutouts of guitars to concerts and air-playing along with the musicians. 

U.S. Air Guitar Championship @hes321 / Pinterest.com

The World Air Guitar Championships have been held in Oulu, Finland, since 1996, but for the past few years, in order to find the contestants that it will send to Finland to compete for the championship, the United States has held its own competition. The judges score the competitors based on 3 elements of their performances: Technical Merit, Stage Presence, and, of course, Airness. 

Location: Beaver, Oklahoma
Cost to Enter: Unknown
Prize: Bragging Rights

On the third Saturday of April, every year since 1969, people have been lining up in Beaver, Oklahoma, to chuck handfuls of cow dung as far as they could. Fortunately, the dung isn’t fresh, but dried manure is still manure, no matter how one looks at it. Ranging from local farmers to celebrity throwers, the Cow Chip Throwing World Championships usually have about 100 contestants.

Cow Chip Throwing World Championship @harmancipants / Twitter.com

Like any official competition, the Cow Chip Throwing Championship also comes with a rule book. For anyone who was hoping to compete by throwing a golfball-sized chip, think again, Cow chip throwing rules specify that each chip must be a minimum of 6 inches in diameter in order to count.

Location: Cooper’s Hill, England
Cost to Enter: Free
Prize: Cheese

The Cheese Rolling Championship is one contest that has, clearly, gained momentum over the years. Every year, people from all four corners of the world travel to Cooper’s Hill, England, on the outskirts of Gloucester, for their chance to chase a wheel of cheese down a hill. 

Cheese Rolling Championship ©1000 Words / Shutterstock.com

The competitors’ 200-yard-long descent begins about 1 second after a 9-pound wheel of double Gloucester cheese is hurled down the hill before them. The winner is the first person to make it across the finish line at the bottom. And, of course, the prize for winning this ridiculous race is cheese.

Location: England
Cost to Enter: Unknown
Prize: Trophy

Some pancake historians believe that the pancake race was born in 1445, when a baker, who was rushing to church, had no choice but to take the frying pan from right off the stove and periodically flip the contents of the pan to keep it from burning. What was in the pan? Well, a pancake, of course.

Pancake Flipping Chamionship @shopitize / Pinterest.com

Held every year, in Olney, the world-famous pancake race consists of teams running a relay race while holding pancake-filled frying pans and flipping the pancakes to each other a minimum of four times. Penalties, and disqualifications, are given out for those whose pancakes fall to the ground.

Location: Heinola, Finland
Cost to Enter: Unknown
Prize: Pride

First held in 1999, by the time the final World Sauna Championships were held, participants representing 20 different countries were flying to Heinola, Finland, to see who could withstand the most amount of heat. Contestants would enter a sauna that was already at a scorching 230 degrees F, then, every 30 seconds, half of a liter of water would be added to the stove.

World Sauana Championships ©Mr. Tempter / Shutterstock.com

Truly, one of the “enter at your own risk” competitions on this list, the only way to win the World Sauna Championships was simple, outlast all of the others competitors and walk out of the sauna unassisted. The WSC was permanently canceled following a tragic incident at the conclusion of the 2010 Championships.