We might have left the Football World Cup earlier than expected but Ginge Harrison and Titch Wells did the country proud this weekend by retaining their world title by successfully throwing and catching an egg over a distance of 50m without it breaking and this is no yolk but is a sport that is recognized by the English Sports Council.

The Championships were held for the ninth year at Swaton in Lincolnshire. The sport is taken very seriously by some competitors and teams travel across the world for the series of events that are held. Teams arrived this year from USA, Germany, Ireland and as far away as Japan to compete. The organisers are keen to point out that it actually pre-dates other more mainstream sports such as football, rugby and cricket with the earliest recorded egg throwing taking place in Swaton in 1322.

Another Englishman was crowned champion in the Russian Egg Roulette competition beating sixty-four other entrants by avoiding smashing a raw egg on to his head. He used his skill and judgement to correctly select a hard-boiled egg in each round. Other disciplines included Egg Target Throwing, in which competitors throw eggs at a body builder and receive points for hitting specific parts of the body. As the body target was also a male model, no points were awarded for hitting him in the face, one point for an arm or leg, two for the torso and three points for hitting him in the groin (ouch).

Competitors would look good decked out in the latest fruit of the loom t-shirts as they stand up well to everyday rough and tumble and really stand up to a variety of conditions, whatever country you are representing, they are after all available in a great range of colours. It is certainly one of those eccentric English events but it would appear to be one that the rest of the world is wanting to be involved in doing, after all the current world record for egg throwing was set in Holland last month at an amazing distance of 75m (264ft).

Money raised from the event is used to support a series of charities in the UK and abroad, so with twelve months to practice lets see if we can’t hold on to the world title for a third year on the run, and regain that world record at the same time.