Page 9 - Oundle Life Sept 2022

BONKERS
4 CONKERS
World Conker Championships
The World Conker Championships take place in Southwick near Oundle on Sunday 9th October, starting at around 10am.
Every year, players from around the globe compete to be crowned World Champion. Despite an average 15 countries being represented, local conker prowess is often
to the fore. King Conker (David Jakins
from Warmington) says: ‘There is a strong Northamptonshire tradition for playing conkers. Personally, I prefer the ‘Oundle chop’ technique, a hard downward strike, but the great Charlie Bray, three times winner, prefers the ‘Southwick Sideswipe’.’
In the last few years, there has been a ‘Grand Final, played between men’s and women’s’ winners. This has been won twice by men,
and three times by women. In line with other sports, The World Conker Championships have reviewed their rules, and will continue to play a mixed competition in the early rounds.
Tina Stone, Landlady of The Shuckburgh Arms where the championships take place and twice Women’s champion says: ‘This is a competition where everyone can take part and have an equal chance of being rather gloriously crowned World Champion.’
The Championships are held in the beautiful Northamptonshire countryside, in this quintessentially English village. Once a year, the village is home to the world’s media, amidst the crack of conker on conker. Chairman Jim Packer said ‘It was a bit weird featuring on the front page of China Daily, but it seems to be
an event which the media love. We featured on both BBC and ITV breakfast shows the morning after the tournament last year.’
Although conkers are seasonal – the
first playable ones are available around 30th September, and the season lasts until the week after the championships – it is quite possible to practice throughout the year using conkers
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