Sporting Event Of The Week (22)

For those of us looking for an unusual feat of endurance, the West Yorkshire village of Gawthorpe was the place to be on Easter Monday, the venue of the 56th World Coal Carrying Championship.

Competitors are required to lug a bag of coal – 50kg for men, 25kg for women – along the 1,108 uphill course which runs from Owl Lane, outside the Royal Oak, to the maypole on the village green, where the sacks are deposited.

The record time was set by David Jones in 1991 and again in 1995, completing the course in 4 minutes and six seconds. The record for the women’s event, set by Catherine Foley, stands at 4 minutes 25 seconds. Perhaps appropriately, the event is sponsored by a local firm of funeral directors.

This year the conditions were against the competitors with temperatures soaring to 20 degrees centigrade, in contrast to last year when heavy snow threatened the event.

The origins of the event began, like many a good idea, in a pub, the Beehive, in 1963, when Reggie Sedgwick, a stalwart of the village’s Maypole Committee, issued a challenge to Lewis Hartley, who had had the temerity to cast aspersions on his fitness. Rather than it being just a personal duel and looking for something to fill a hole in the calendar on Easter Monday, the secretary, Fred Hirst, hit upon the idea of the race.

The rest is history and long may the race for the title of King of the Coil Humpers and the £750 cash prize continue.