Britain hosts battle for bog snorkelling world championship

Competitors dressed as goldfish and sharks were among over 100 people vying to become the world bog snorkelling champion at an unusual swimming competition in Wales Sunday.

Contestants at the 30th annual World Bog Snorkelling Championships donned masks, snorkels and flippers to swim two lengths of a 55-metre peat bog outside Llanwrtyd Wells as quickly as possible.

They were cheered on by around 300 spectators who lined up along either side of the murky brown stream running through marshland.

Asked what the appeal of bog snorkelling was, one of the event's organisers, Jen Walsby, said: "I don't know, I've done it myself and it's cold and brown and you can't see much. It's just the madness that comes with it and the challenge."

Leading the field this year was Briton Haydn Pitchforth, who completed the course in one minute 26 seconds.