duration 1'06 min

Paddy O'Doyle is a record-breaking fanatic. His 101st Guinness Book of Records feat is to do 660 Press Ups on the back of his hands in one hourÉ

2 mins. duration

The 17th Polo World Cup on Snow took place between the 27th and 30th January 2001 in St. Moritz. First class Polo players from all over the world show why this is called the Sport of the Kings.

Spectacular visuals of galloping horses on ice and snow in the picturesque setting of the Engadin. We also mingle with the jet set glitterati.

images: ©Verkehrsverein St Moritz

3 mins. duration

Polo is played every winter on the frozen lake at St Moritz and the game attracts a wide array of international glitterati at this opening event of the high society winter season.

Apart from the spectacular visuals and riveting play on the sun drenched snow covered lake we observe such celebrities as Jodie Kidd and Shawne Fielding enjoying cocktails at the luxurious Suvretta Hotel.

Duration 6:00 minutes

Polo is played every winter on the frozen lake at St Moritz and the game attracts a wide array of international glitterati at this, the opening event of the high society winter season.

We follow a regular face in St. Moritz, Renate Hirsch Giacommuzzi, throughout the weekend's festivities. We visit her at her luxurious hotel, Badrutts Palace, and then do some window shopping downtown St. Moritz. In the evening we go to the lavish Gala dinner at the Suvretta Hotel and meet the rich, famous and beautiful. The next day we go, of course, to the game itself on the frozen lakeÉthis is the highlight of St Moritz's winter season and everyone is out in force.

2:30 mins. duration

We visit the 16th Polo World Cup on Snow in St. Moritz.

First class Polo players from all over the world show why this is called the Sport of the Kings. Spectacular visuals of galloping horses on ice and snow in the picturesque setting of the Engadin.

This year's event boasts a very special attraction Ð Lady Gwendolyn Ashborough Ð owner and captain of the Alegria Para Siempre polo team will be among the most prominent participants.

Lady Ashborough of French and Cherokee parentage, has in the past been a track star, bodybuilder and a wrestler, only to switch to polo in 1997.

On Sunday January 30th 2000, we accompany Lady Ashborough and witness the surprise and controversial appearance of England's Duchess of Wessex.

The Quest Adventure Race series is a series of 10 events that take place throughout the year. They are usually one-day races. This round of the Quest Series had been selected as the first round of the British Adventure Race Championships, and therefore the organisers had extended the race over two days and made it more demanding

The event consisted of five stages ÉTrail Run. Mountain Bike, Night Navigation, Canoe and Endurance.

2 mins. duration

More than 1,000 amateur runners compete every year in the 'Race the Train' competition.

The event takes place in the picturesque Snowdonia National Park and runners do battle with a narrow gauge steam train for 7_ miles between the seaside town Tywyn and the slate village of Abergynolwyn.

3:12 mins. duration

Modern Tennis is a direct descendant of a far more ancient game, played for some eight centuries before the present game was invented. Real or Royal Tennis is still played on 17 courts throughout England.

The oldest court still in use was built by Henry V111 at Hampton Court. We visit the Palace court, which is also frequented by Prince Edward, observe the game and try to come to terms with it's unique rules and traditions.

An exotic location, this beautiful island in the Indian Ocean close to Madagascar. 1800 participants start the 125 Km Marathon in full carnival atmosphere at 4 o'clock in the morning. They cover an ascent and descent of 8000 metres. It takes 15 hours and includes over 300 doctors masseurs and helpers. Exotic pictures.

2:30 mins. duration

On a picturesque hillside overlooking the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire we visit the yearly 'Robert Dover Cotswold Olimpiks', which date back to the 17th Century.

Rustic games such as 'Shin kicking', 'The standing jump', 'Throwing the Sledge Hammer' and 'Chinese Boxing', are but a few unusual events, which take place in this rural setting, which culminates at midnight with a huge bonfire and torchlight procession into Chipping Camden.

2:40 mins. duration

This is an independent series of 36-hour long races in various spectacular locations throughout the world. We go to Japan, Switzerland, France, Spain, Austria and Germany to show some of the worlds best teams

Disciplines are orienteering, mountain biking, canoeing, horseback riding, abseiling, and in-line skating, a rarely used discipline in adventure racing. Racing against the clock and a pre-determined time limit, teams will travel from checkpoint (CP) to checkpoint. Once a team reaches the established CP, it is able to use the remaining time to sleep, eat, and prepare for the next stage of the race.

2.28 mins. duration

Thirteen year old Scott Parker's football skills are legend. That's why Tottenham Hotspur has offered £87.000,- for him to sign up with them.

"He is still too young to decide", says Michael Parker, his father.

However, since appearing in a television commercial, Scott and his family have been overwhelmed with offers from all the major premier league football clubs. In the meantime he trains with Charlton Athletic despite the tempting offers.

1.30 mins. duration

On 31.8.98 the 6th National Sedan Chair Race was staged as part of the annual Georgian Festival, when the city of Lancaster celebrates the sights, sounds and characters of the year 1804.

Two gentlemen carriers and a lady passenger race in specially constructed 18th century sedan chairs over a 100-yard course in front of historic Lancaster castle.

The participants wear appropriate Georgian costume and points are given not only for speed but dress, manners and deportment.

The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles was in Ashbourne, England for the sport of Shrovetide Football, which dates back to the 12th century. It is the world's oldest, largest, longest and maddest football match.

Up to ten thousand players compete for two days with a hand painted, cork filled ball. The goals are two miles apart and the ball is played through the streets and the local river.

The rules prohibit only murder, movement of the ball by vehicle and play after

midnight.

2:44 duration

Expedition style adventure racing is very popular in New Zealand and is a rapidly growing sport around the world where teams race 24hrs a day to cover a varied course.

Disciplines include kayak, trekking and mountain biking covering a distance of 532 km

45 mixed teams of 4 from 10 countries battled for 5 days non-stop in this spectacular event.

4:30 mins. duration

Steve Cram no longer holds the "mile" record, which he held for almost nine years. Now in his mid thirties he has time to reminisce along with his German mother and trainer Jimmy Hedley.

We trace his career from his schooldays to the present.

2:48 mins. duration

4,000 foolhardy runners run and swim 14 miles in the maddest, most dangerous gruelling slog, half cross country race, half assault course, in which contestants have to run across bogs, crawl under barbed wire, swim under water through a soup of mud, clamber up rock faces, walk planks, haul themselves across tightropes and grope their way through tunnels of freezing water.

This year was the "Year of the Braveheart", with competitors encouraged to defy the nettles and brambles by wearing a kilt for the race. They enter the dreaded `Killing Fields` assault course, which consists of the following obstacles: The Tiger (two huge climbs separated by a slalom between 24volt electric fences), the Behemoth, the Fiery Holes, Dead Leg Swamp, the Vietcong Tunnels, Paradise Climb, the Water Tunnels, Dunkirk, Jesus Bridge, Dan's Deceiver (a vertical rope climb), Dragon Pool, Bailey Bridge and Stalag Escape.

At the end there are usually broken legs, dislocated joints and shock. The ambulances never stop.

2:55 mins. duration

London clergymen are taking self-defence classes to ward off attackers. Priests have been threatened, physically assaulted, subject to arson attacks and some have even been murdered.

The British clergyman union, Amicus, has advised Father Paul Andrew of West London to take taekwondo lessons.

We visit Father Paul and show him learning the finer points of self-defence. The union's taekwondo coaches put on an impressive display of martial arts in the unlikely setting of a Hammersmith Church.

3:00 mins. Duration

The tenth Thai Raid Adventure race took place in the North of Thailand last December. This 5 day long trek through the jungle passes through the notorious Opium area, the Golden Triangle, between Burma/Laos and Thailand. Spectacular and exotic visuals as we pass through tropical rain forests, jungle and mountain areas. River rafting, elephant trekking and Thai massage are also part of the programme.

300 km above the Arctic Circle in the land of the midnight sun Lapland hosts a new spectacular 7 day adventure race starting from Norway's Fjords and finishing 650 KM later on the coast of Sweden. Part of the race includes climbing over a mountain with inflatable canoes.

This area has been called "The last European Wilderness"

There are 11 disciplines: Mountain climbing, Trekking, Mountainbiking, White water canoeing, CaveingÉetc

In just one week you can experience things most nature-lovers could only dream of doing in a life time!

2 mins. duration

Every Year 'Ye Old Royal Oak' in Wetton, Staffordshire hosts the 'World Toe Wrestling Championships'.

A truly bizarre sport, which regularly attracts among others the well known author of 'The Bizarre Leisure Book', Stephen Jarvis, alias The son of Kento Nagasocki.

The opponents sit opposite each other on the toedium and remove their footwear. Big toes are interlocked on the toes track and on the command 'Toes away' each player attempts to force their opponents foot over the line.

2:50 mins. duration

The In-door World Championships 1999 in Carlow, Rep of Ireland is the fifth Indoor Championships. The Indoor version of Tug of War is getting more and more popular, resulting in an increasing number of teams participating in the event

The men's 680kg pull was won by England. Other winners in different categories were Scotland, Japan and Holland.

3 minutes duration

What makes a real man real? In Schwaben, Germany Ð the size of his beard. At the International German Beard Championships the biggest and bushiest beards were on show.

Over 120 participants wearing fancy costumes from all over Europe competed in front of a 600 strong audience. As a grand final they set a new Guinness World record for the longest beard chain... the mind boggles.

3:52 mins. duration

There is only one place on earth you can watch 'Skikjšring': St. Moritz, venue of the international horseracing event known as White Turf. This unique race meeting held on the world's flattest racecourse, the frozen lake at St. Moritz, dates back to 1906. Thoroughbred horses pull their jockeys on skis along the 2,7 km. Track.

An international field also lines up for the Grand Prix of St. Moritz to compete for the title of "European champion on snow".

White Turf presents a spectacular programme with an exclusive mixture of first class sport, cultural entertainment and celebrities.

image: ©Verkehrsverein St Moritz

2:00 mins. duration

In June Wife Carrying champs take place in Sonkajarvi, 340 miles north of Helsinki.

As the name implies it is all about men carrying women along a 277-yard course. The different carrying techniques, obstacles and water splashes provide great laughs.

Last year's winners (an Estonian couple) carried their wives upside down and over their backs, a departure from previous years when the piggyback style triumphed.

Couples from Finland, Korea, Japan, Greece, Norway and Estonia.

2 mins. duration

The first World Worm-Charming Championships were held at Willaston, Cheshire in 1980. The inaugural winner, Tom Shufflebotham, charmed 511 worms out of his three-metre square plot in the allotted time of 30 mins. duration.

The worms are coaxed to the surface by vibrating garden forks and other implements in the soil.

Some contestants use music, like Mike Forster, who plays 'The Green Green Grass of Home' from his stereo to entice his prey to the surface.

An exotic location, this beautiful island in the Indian Ocean close to Madagascar. 1800 participants start the 125 Km Marathon in full carnival atmosphere at 4 o'clock in the morning. They cover an ascent and descent of 8000 metres. It takes 15 hours and includes over 300 doctors masseurs and helpers. Exotic pictures.