Stinging Nettle Eating Championships
Sixty-five brave, if not rather mad, contestants battled for glory, last night, at the World Stinging Nettle Eating Championships.
Each competitor is given a pile of freshly picked nettles - carefully measured and cut into two foot lengths. The winner is the one who can strip bare and eat all the leaves on as many of these stems as possible in one hour - the stalks are counted and a winning 'length' is then awarded - one prize (a trophy and a crate of beer) to the men, and one to the women.
It was a draw this year Mel Lang, 42, from Bridport and Mike Hobbs, 28, from West Knighton, both scoffed a tongue blistering 48 feet of nettles. During the competition Mel asked a friend: "Why did you talk me into doing this? .They're disgusting." Although she did say she might be back next year.
The current record holder is Simon Sleigh who chomped through 76 feet of stinging nettles in 2002.
Competitors are disqualified if they leave their seats or vomit. But judges allowed two nettle-eaters to continue yesterday when they threw up in their beer glasses and drank it again! Another was so desperate for a pee that he almost filled an empty plastic cider bottle - all within the rules, as he didn't leave his seat.
The nettles are washed down with with beer, cider or water, many people pull the leaves off and mash them into a pulp before swallowing them - others just simply stuff the leaves into their mouths...
The contest has been happening at the Bottle Inn, Marshwood, Dorset, in some form or another for almost two decades. It started with farmers arguing over who had the longest nettles. One said that if anyone could beat his 15-foot, 6-inch whopper, he would eat it. The rest is history...