Underwater mountain bike race: Yes, it’s a reality!
There aren’t that many places on earth where one can find both mountain and sea together. Some of the notable ones in this list are Capri in Italy, California in USA, Makarska in Croatia, Harris in Scotland and Mallorca in Spain and Wales in the United Kingdom among others. Well, Wales is both an island as well as a mountainous holy grail. While it is bordered by England on the east and by sea on north and south (Irish Sea in the northwest, St. George’s Channel and Celtic Sea to the southwest and Bristol Channel to the south), its west is entirely covered by the Snowdonia Mountain range. Wondering why we are suddenly drawing your attention to Wales? Because, this is the place where the world’s only underwater mountain bike race takes place. The competition is known as World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championship.
The birth of the idea
Not many people know but Wales’ smallest town Llanwrtyd Wells is in a strategic location (right in the middle of Wales) where it gets to experience the best of both mountain and sea. However, being so miniscule and remote, it never received its due recognition. Taking this into account, a townsman named Gordon Green decided to draw some attention towards his town. He and some of his buddies, who were a regular at the town’s only pub, birthed the idea of an underwater mountain race. And thus, in 1985, the first ever World Bog Snorkelling Championship was conceived. Since then, it has been held annually on the August Bank Holiday in the dense Waen Rhydd peat bog, near Llanwrtyd Wells. In case you don’t know what a bog is, it’s a huge pit filled with dead plants, such as moss, that floats in murky water. And guess what? More often than not, it’s cold, smelly and uninviting. Nevertheless, the Welsh are known for twisted dark humour blended with self-mockery, and this was no different.
Two decades down the line, Green decided to take the contest to new heights (and depths too!) and thus threw in the concept of a mountain bike. The result? The World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championship, that is the first ever and only underwater mountain bike race in the globe.
World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championship: A bird’s eye view
As part of this exotic race, contestants wear a snorkel, a mask and a pair of scuba fins and ride on a mountain bike. However, this particular bike is also customised with lead shots on the frame, tires filled with water for a better grip (on the bog bed), and lead weights attached to the frame bag. Once ready, the racers go along a 60-metre trench that cuts through Waen Rhydd peat bog. To keep themselves warm, the racers further wear a wetsuit, while they also wear scuba diving weight belts to avoid floating off. Does it sound like more trouble than necessary? Well, it surely is. Anyway, now the goal is to keep your eyes at the water level while one tries to ride a bike through a heavy layer of bog in a deep trench, that too twice. Know what this means? A rider needs to go through one end of the trench, reach the other end, circle a pole installed there, and come back. Oh, and the snorkel helps one breathe. You, of course got that part, didn’t you?
The record is 1 minute 04.94 seconds by 36-year-old Oliver McKenna, a mountain biker hailing from Brighton. He managed to achieve this feat in his second attempt. Interestingly, people can take part in it individually or in teams.
What’s more fascinating is that, this mountain bike bog snorkelling is also part of a Welsh triathlon that begun with a 12-mile run, followed by bog snorkelling twice (along the 60-mile trench) and ending in the underwater mountain bike race.
Fun fact: This event was constructed when there was a weird demand for “more dirty fun around the famous Waen Rhydd Bog” by the local Welsh!