While the world focuses on the more run of the mill sports- like football, horse racing and rugby, we thought we would take a look at some of the weird and wonderful sports people do all around the world that you wont believe actually exist.
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The first of these is… extreme ironing. Yes, you read it right. Did you know about this?
Me neither!
I personally loathe ironing, it’s the most soul destroying task- but this makes it look quite exciting.
So, what is it exactly? Well people basically take an ironing board- any old one will do- and press an item of clothing (old or new) in an extreme location.
Take the woman in the first picture for instance- she has chosen to pose in front of a mountain on top of some rocks with a rather jazzy ironing board cover. Hats off to her for introducing some colour into an otherwise bleak scene.
According to the Extreme Ironing Bureau (yes there is one of these), extreme ironing is "the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well-pressed shirt."
Wow. What more could anyone want from life?
Look at her- living her best life...
While it has garnered a lot of interest on the web, people are still divided over whether it’s a sport or not. If it means the ironing gets done- does anyone really care about small print? I might suggest it to my husband so I don’t have to iron any more of his work shirts. Worth a shot- right?
People are rather imaginative when it comes to where to pop up their board too- popular locations include mountainsides, forests, canoes, while skiing, snowboarding, on top of statues, underwater, on a motorway or during a parachuting session.
Question- how long are the cords on these irons and where can I buy one?!
I barely have time to iron in my own home as a matter of necessity- so I have to admit their efforts are pretty impressive.
Quit horsing around...
Apparently it all began with a chap called Tony Hiam in 1980, who was so tickled by his brother’s obsessive need to iron while they were camping (really?) that he decided to start and get the big board and cotton compressor out just about anywhere and expectedly so- people looked on in confusion and amusement.
It’s gained so much traction that you can now enter the Extreme Ironing World Championships (imagine that on your CV under the hobbies and interests section), and it even has its own TV show-Extreme Ironing: Pressing for Victory. Claps to whoever came up with that title.
The most noteworthy of all extreme ironing efforts? In March 2008, 72 divers ironed simultaneously underwater, which holds the record for the most people ironing underwater ever (each to their own is all I will say to that).
Could she smile any wider?
In 2003, John Roberts and Ben Gibbons from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and Christopher Allan Jowsey from Newcastle, ironed a Union Jack just above Everest Base Camp. As one might expect, this is the highest point anyone has ironed at. And the lowest point, you ask? Ironing while drunk on Malibu but there are no trophies for that- just shame.
So next time you’ve got to get the creases out of your camisole- why not venture out into the garden or onto the street to stretch your extreme ironing muscles and see how it feels- you might just learn to love it! Or you'll probably just be the subject of your neighbour’s newly formed WhatsApp group entitled 'Pressing Issue'.
