From Toe Wrestling to Chasing Cheese: Weird British Sports

Toe wrestlers sometimes have their toe nails removed to improve their performance.

Britain has some truly strange sports.

Take toe wrestling, for example.

Alan "Nasty" Nash won the world championship competition over the weekend in England, earning his 16th first-place finish.

He takes his sport very seriously.

"I have been doing it now, doing toe wrestling for 25 years, this is where it all started," he said of the toe-off outside a pub in Derbyshire.

"We moved away for a bit, but over the 25 years, I have had 15 world titles, after today it will be 16. I've got no intention of losing," he said before his match. 

Feet are inspected for fungus and injuries before each match. 

Nash's final opponent, Ben Woodroffe, goes to extremes to compete. "There's a lot things that a lot of people do," he said. "I had my toenails removed on my feet for toe-wrestling purposes. ... If you're dedicated to it, you will do it."

As in arm wrestling, the point is to shove your opponent's foot to the side. But instead of gripping palms, toe wrestling competitors interlock their big toes.

Meanwhile, in Gloucestershire, people gathered Monday to chase wheels of cheese.

Cooper's Hill Cheese Role and Wake dates from 1826, but some historians believe it was established long before as a pagan ritual.

Contestants chase an 8-pound wheel of double Gloucester cheese down a steep hill, with some running and others rolling downhill. There are three races with three separate winners. 

The bizarre sport is dangerous, with entrants often injuring themselves as they hurtle and bounce down the hill. This year's winner was 22-year-old Max McDougall, who in 2018 was rendered unconscious while competing.

"It was better than last year, when I knocked myself out," he said after winning.

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