| A. | Poohsticks is a sport first mentioned in “The House at Pooh Corner”, a Winnie-the-Pooh book by A. A. Milne. It is a simple sport which may be played on any bridge over running water. Each player drops a stick on the upstream side of a bridge and the one whose stick first appears on the downstream side is the winner. The annual World Poohsticks Championships have been held at Day’s Lock on the River Thames in the UK since 1984. |
| B. | Chess boxing is a hybrid sport that consists of chess and boxing in alternating rounds. The sport was invented by French artist and filmmaker Enki Bilal in his comic book “Froid Equateur” in 1992. The first real event of chess-boxing was organized by Dutch artist Iepe Rubingh in 2003. Chess boxing is a fast growing sport. The sport alternates between games of boxing and chess after each round – waiting for a checkmate or knockout to decide the match. |
| C. | In heliskiing people pay a large sum of money to get helicoptered to a remote snow-covered area only to ski down the white slope. These skiers spend hundreds of dollars to ski down a natural landscape unlike the artificial slopes of a ski-resort. Most obviously, the natural environment involves greater risks and discomfort. Even the journey into the interior part of a mountainous area has often been life-threatening in the past. |
| D. | Cheese rolling is something that has been around for over 200 years and is still practiced today. During the Spring Bank Holiday in England, people gather at the top of Coopers Hill and prepare for something very exciting. At the top of the hill, a judge rolls a round of cheese down the slope and the participants follow. People try to run down the slope but often end up rolling down like the cheese. The winner of the race wins the round of cheese as well as a few bruises and scars.
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| E. | It’s possible that extreme sports became trendy in the late 20th century as a reaction to the greater safety of modern life. Lacking a feeling of danger in their everyday activities, people wanted more excitement or risk. Another reason is improved sports technology. For example, the invention of sticky rubber-soled climbing shoes and artificial climbing walls increased the appeal of rock climbing. And advances in ski design allowed more skiers to try extreme feats. |
| F. | Extreme Ironing is an extreme sport and a performance art. People who play this unusual sport go to a remote location and iron clothes! They call themselves “ironists”, and get a thrill from taking their ironing board, unplugged iron and some of their clothes to some extreme places and photograph themselves doing it. Such places that they have reached include extreme altitude, underwater, hanging from cliffs, and on top of vehicles. |
| G. | Approximately 65 thousand people in the United States alone do not know how to swim. Many of them learned as young children but never go to a pool, lake, river, or ocean anymore and have forgotten how to swim over the years. Others were never taught and continue to avoid the activity altogether. It was once thought that knowing how to swim was important for safety reasons, but now it is pretty much left up to the individual. |