A contestant snorkels through the peat bog

SPORTING DRAMA drew the crowds to mid Wales during August Bank Holiday weekend. Although the Olympics, coming up in London in 2012, will produce some great achievements, there's nothing to beat the challenges of The World Bog Snorkelling Championship. Held on the last weekend in August each year in Llanwrtyd Wells in mid Wales, the championship sees contestants from around the world attempt the shortest time swimming through two 120-yard-long, water-filled, lengths of trench cut through a peat bog, wearing flippers and snorkel. The World Bog Snorkelling Championship was first held in 1985 and Joanne Pitchforth of Heckmondwike is the current world record holder. Llanwrtyd Wells is home to a growing season of unusual events, there's now the Bog Snorkelling Triathlon, mountain bike bog snorkelling, and the Real Ale Wobble, to name a few.