WITH more than 100 competitors gathered round him in a morning squall, Gordon Green took the microphone to brief them reassuringly. “The bog is pretty clean today,” he said. “There’ll be some water scorpions, leeches, of course, a few trout and maybe the odd eel, but apart from that it’s pretty wholesome.”

You might have expected a few expressions of doubt and distaste at this assessment of conditions, but there were none. Perhaps the act of entry for the World Bog Snorkelling Championships, which marked their 21st anniversary in Llanwrtyd Wells yesterday, is enough to indicate an absence of fear and finer feelings.

It helps to have a touch of madness, but the same can be said for most of the annual events in this village that we must call a town. The manversus-horse race, for instance, is 27 years old, while the bog triathlon is the latest on the roster dreamt up by the indefatigable Green.

When Green arrived from his native Lancashire 35 years ago to run the Neuadd Arms pub, Llanwrtyd Wells was unknown to all bar its 600 inhabitants and the occasional passing hiker. “We started to think of ways to bring the tourists in,” he said.

Most of his best ideas came late at night, the product of barroom banter. And the result — other than an MBE for Green — is that this tiny place in mid-Wales, which has a market charter and a mayor and is thus officially the smallest town in Britain, is the most popular destination for lovers of bizarre sporting challenges.

Llanwrtyd Wells lies at the heart of one of Britain’s last remaining wilderness areas, a fact chillingly apparent once you follow the homespun signs, simply inscribed ‘Bog’, clatter over a rickety bridge and a cattle grid and enter the desolate farm fields that are the stage for this curiously compelling event.

Green, retired from his landlord duties but still busily promoting his portfolio of “Green Events”, bustled around in a T-shirt as white as his hair. “We’ve a new sponsor this year, an IT company called SPMK,” he said. “We went on eBay to find one. The highest bidder was actually an internet betting company, but the farmer’s wife wouldn’t have them.”

He briefed the assembled gathering of the rules, the need to swim up and down a trench cut out of the peat bog. It is 60 yards long, four feet deep and a harrowingly murky colour.

No conventional swimming strokes are allowed — only doggie paddle. Dress code is notably relaxed.

First to take to the bog, by ritual, was Julia Galvin from Listowel in the west of Ireland, to whom this event has been a salvation. Eight years ago, Galvin, suffering from a severe form of scoliosis, was told that she would never walk again. Although she could not swim, either, she read about the bog-snorkelling championships and something about it fired her determination.

“I had no future,” she said. “This event saved my life. I’m a lucky woman and I try to inspire others now.”

Shamelessly the exhibitionist, Galvin completed the two lengths in a little more than five minutes before posing for countless pictures and giving an interview to Indonesian TV.

Others had travelled from the United States, Australia and Russia to compete. Scott Vinning wore a pyjama suit with Australian emblems and dressed his dog the same way. For some, though, the bog is more than a bit of fun and showmanship. The record of 1min 35sec is held by Philip John, an international swimmer, and although his duties with the Marines kept him away this year, some serious athletes were here to challenge him. It mattered not that the first prize is a nominal £40.

Six members of the Great Britain underwater hockey team, all based in Yorkshire, arrived fit and confident. Glenn Marshall, from Bradford, was second last year and was beamingly intent on going one better this time. He was still smiling after recording 1min 42sec, although the disappointment was visible. “Once you’re in there, you can’t see your hand in front of your face,” he said. “And the water is so cold, it saps the energy.”

Marshall will be back. The challenge has got to him, just as it gets to so many others. Hard to explain, for sure, but no harder than so much else about Llanwrtyd Wells.

NEED TO KNOW

The sport? Bog snorkelling is an event that requires competitors to complete two lengths of a 60-yard water-filled trench cut through a peat bog

Who compete? Men and women from all around Britain and much farther afield

Who watches? Hundreds line the banks, including many curious tourists

Big event? The World Championships take place in Llanwrtyd Wells, in mid-Wales, every August Bank Holiday Monday

Weblink? www.bogsnorkelling.co.uk

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