Llanwrtyd Wells claims to be the smallest city in Britain. It is also home to some of the strangest sporting events in the country. Bog dive someone?
Llanwrtyd in Powys, Mid-Wales, is officially Britain’s smallest town. With a population of 850, it is not the smallest settlement: there are much smaller towns and villages. What makes it a city is its old charter and its form of municipal government.
At one point, it was probably the market town for your region. Traditionally, places that were granted permission by the king or local lords to hold regularly scheduled markets received letters granting them city status. That allowed them to set the rules of the market (keep the peace, the weights and measures, the size of the market stalls, who cleaned up after the cows) and have a council to manage things.
Well, that was a very interesting history lesson, but …
Why would you be interested in such a small city?
Nestled between the Cambrian Mountains and the Brecon Beacons National Park, it is also 25 miles from the Elan Valley Estate, a certified Dark Skies international park and one of the six darkest places in Britain. Thus, it is a center for mountain biking, hiking and climbing vacations, as well as first-class stargazing for amateur astronomers.
But Llanwrtyd Wells is the kind of place where pub talk turns into crazy ideas; Crazy ideas turn into plans, and the next thing you know, the locals and visiting athletes are throwing some very weird and wacky events.
Some of Britain’s strangest sporting events that take place annually in this small town include:
- The World Snorkeling Bog Championships, scheduled for August 25, 2019, involves contestants in snorkels and fins swimming back and forth along a 60-foot channel cut at Waen Rhydd Bog, a mile from the city. For 33 years, the event has grown from a small local event to a world championship with senior, junior, female and international classes; Contestants from all over the world and even the man from the Guinness Book of Records who attended. In the day, there are usually one or two bouncy castles and stalls selling food and drink. So if you’re not interested in diving, you can still enjoy a great day watching lots of other people stroke through a canal full of mud and reeds. If you are thinking of going, you can register for the event online.
- The Rude Health Bog Triathlon combines an eight-mile run, followed by swimming along 60 feet of the bog channel and ended with a 12-mile bike race. It is soon scheduled for 11 a.m. to 24 August 2019.
- Whole Earth Man vs. Horse Marathon was the first of the crazy events to take place near Llanwrtyd Wells. They have been running it since 1980 and in 1982 they adjusted the course to try to make it more even between man and horse. It took him 25 years, but one man finally beat the horse by two minutes. There is a cash prize that grows each year the horse beats the man, and as of 2018, no man has won in 11 years. The prize for 2019 will be £ 3,000. The next competition is scheduled for June 8, 2019 and online entries will open at 10 a.m. January 5, 2019.
What else is there?
This small town has more than a fair amount of good pubs and restaurants. Among its highly regarded pubs, The Neuadd Arms, where the owner dreamed of the Man vs. Horse, has its own microbrewery. Carlton Riverside Restaurant is recommended by The Good Food Guide, the Michelin Guide, and the Automobile Association (AA). The local Tourist Office has more information on events, pubs, restaurants and places to stay.
How do you say Llanwrtyd Wells?
That Welsh ‘ll’ is tricky, but we’re happy to say we’ve just learned how to say it. The opening ‘Ll’ sounds a bit like ‘chy’ if you think of the ‘ch’ in the German word ‘Ich’. The letter ‘w’ in Welsh generally sounds like ‘u’. So all together Llanwrtyd is pronounced CHYAN ‘urr ted .
