World Conker Championships

The World Conker Championships are held annually on the second Sunday in October in the village of Ashton near Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. Since 1965, conker players from around the world have gathered on the village green to compete for the world title. The male champion is crowned King Conker, and the women's champion is Queen Conker. This year's King is Ray Kellock, and Wendy Bradford is the Queen.

History

The championships began in 1965 after a group of people in Ashton held a conker contest because the weather was too bad to go fishing . At first the event was modest in size but in the last twelve years, rising numbers of participants and more interest from abroad have brought it into the headlines. Money made from the competition goes to charity; since 1965 over £400,000 has been raised .

On Thursday October 6, 2011. after 46 years of championships, it was with deep sadness that Ashton Conker Club the organisers of the World Conker Championships in Ashton were forced to cancel the event over fears forecasted high winds could ruin the show and leave a hefty bill. The Club say the risk of high tents and marquees coming down in the wind on participants and spectators at the exposed venue was too great a risk to take. .

In 2012, the championships were held in the village of Southwick, north of Oundle. Unfortunately, due to a lack of advertising the attendance at the event was minimal. in 2013 the championships will be again held in the village. All efforts were made to find a new home for the competition after the last-minute cancellation last year due to very windy weather. .

The competition

The competition is divided into men's and women's events with some of these playing as part of a team; as the event raises funds for charities helping the visually impaired, blind and partly sighted people can be seen playing at the event. In 2004, 5,000 spectators watched more than 500 participants from 13 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Austria, the Ukraine, Scotland, France and Poland. France, the winning team in 2003, looked in for a good chance but were finally beaten by Britain.

Prior to the game, 2,283 conkers (horse chestnuts) of the required 1.25-inch width were collected, drilled and strung for the game by Ashton Conker Club officials. Worries were voiced over the leaf-miner moth, Cameraria ohridella, which has appeared in the region and could have a detrimental effect on conker yields.

The competition caters for 256 Men and 64 Ladies. The men's section is split into 4 different colour group each with 64 players. A "gand slam" or knockout procedure is in place reducing the 64 in each group to 32 then 16 then 8 etc., until only one person remains in each group. This is the semi-finals, when red winner may play blue and green may play orange. This results in 2 players who battle out in the final for the title of World Conker Champion.

The rules

Players’ Rules of Engagement for the Noble Game of Conkers at the Liberal Clubs Conker Championships:


  1. The game will commence with a toss of a coin, the winner of the toss may elect to strike or receive.
  2. A distance of no less than 8" or 20 cm of lace must be between knuckle and nut.
  3. Each player then takes three alternate strikes at the opponent’s conker.
  4. Each attempted strike must be clearly aimed at the nut, no deliberate miss hits.
  5. The game will be decided once one of the conkers is smashed.
  6. A small piece of nut or skin remaining shall be judged out, it must be enough to mount an attack.
  7. If both nuts smash at the same time then the match shall be replayed.
  8. Any nut being knocked from the lace but not smashing may be re threaded and the game continued.
  9. A player causing a knotting of the laces (a snag) will be noted, three snags will lead to disqualification.
  10. If a game lasts for more than five minutes then play will halt and the "5 minute rule" will come into effect. Each player will be allowed up to nine further strikes at their opponents nut, again alternating three strikes each. If neither conker has been smashed at the end of the nine strikes then the player who strikes the nut the most times during this period will be judged the winner.

Past Champions

All champions from official website:

Men's

All British except where stated.

Women's

All British except where stated

Team

Mixed Team

Ladies Team

Junior Champions

External links

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