Welsh countryside | Music
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| v/o: What do you think of when you think of Wales? The valleys, rugby, male voice choirs. Don't forget sheep, plenty of them, both sorts too.
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Llanwrtyd Wells | In one Welsh village they're doing their best to break out of these stereotypes. Llanwrtyd Wells - population 600 - claims to be the smallest town in Britain. Well it's the smallest town with its own council. | 00.18 |
| Nice little town too, with all the usual nice little bits and pieces. |
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| But don't be fooled by this tranquil veneer. Just below the surface lurks a darker side.
| 00.37 |
| Music
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Man on bike Bog Snorkelling | Applause
Clark: Welcome to the inaugural World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championship.
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| Man: The tide's taking him backwards.
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| Clark: You're doubtless as surprised as I am that no one was killed in the rush to compete in the World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championships. Thirteen started - not so much by invitation, more by way of gentle threats.
| 01.07 |
| Woman: You be the woman champion.
Man: Come on, you only have to get in the water and you'll win.
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Registration desk | Clark: Still, it's early days, and they're already fine tuning the equipment.
| 01.27 |
Man preparing for even | John: Probably about five or six pound. It's just enough to counteract the suit, wet suit. Otherwise the buoyancy lifts your weight off the bike. You can have trouble trying to get traction. If you pick the bike up it's been weighted with lead shot.
| 01.31 |
Bog Snorkelling event | Music
| 01.56 |
Clark to camera
Super:
CHRIS CLARK | Clark: Now those of you who were hoping to see your reporter involved today are going to be bitterly disappointed I'm afraid. A pre-existing medical condition known commonly as cold liquid immersion aversion syndrome prevents me from taking part. But I have got with me now a man who has taken part. John, talk us through the science of Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling.
| 02.46 |
| John: You just keep pedalling for all your worth.
| 03.05 |
| Clark: Are conditions today difficult, are they?
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| John: It's not too cold. Visibility is about four inches in front of the mask.
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| Clark: Is that adequate?
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| John: Everything's just by feel, as I say. You just keep pedalling. But the problem is trying to get enough traction.
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Gordon in pub | Gordon: A mountain cyclist is very dependent on the weather.
| 03.26 |
| Clark: Time to meet Gordon Green, local publican and the man who's put Llanwrtyd Wells on the map. |
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| It all started, as these things do, over a drink or two in Gordon's pub. The result? The annual man versus horse challenge.
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| Gordon: I always reckoned that a runner would be faster than a horse over long distance. And we decided to put this to the test. And we arranged the race, which was over 22 miles. And this is what happens to - you know has been happening for the last 18 years.
| 03.41 |
Honour roll | Clark: Relay teams have beaten nags, but the £10,000 for the first individual to beat the horse, is still unclaimed nearly two decades later. Then they came up with conventional bog snorkelling - simple really. Two lengths of a 20 metre channel cut in a peat bog. Fastest time wins.
| 04.05 |
Stuart Richards preparing to Bog Snorkel | Gordon: This is Stuart Richards. He's a local father. He's dug this bog... so he knows what he's letting himself into.
| 04.25 |
| Clark: And so it is that the constant struggle for perfection has taken new form, with mountain bike bog snorkelling.
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Gordon | Clark: Gordon, where do you draw your inspiration from?
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| Gordon [laughing]: It must be this weather, the hills. But, it's all good fun.
| 04.47 |
| Gordon: We're going to start off with the second of the local juniors...
| 04.58 |
| Clark: It was the sort of day that owed a light to the every child wins a prize tradition of entertainment.
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Presentation of prizes | Gordon: And the new world champion, Dave Atkinson.
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| Clark: Well, Dave Atkinson, a tremendous result. | 05.19 |
Clark with Atkinson | Did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine that you might one day be World Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Champion.
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| Dave: No, it really is a dream come true for me. I mean I've obviously been training very hard for this. And on the day it just came right. The bog was good, my time was good, and it all came together for me. It's brilliant.
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Event | Clark: As a spectator sport, mountain bike bog snorkelling has a way to go. At no time did the crowd surge forward in excitement. No one fainted. It's more a case of ripples of amusement. Still they like it that way in these parts. Odd place, Wales.
| 05.41 |