Teen tops bog snorkellers

A 15-year-old schoolboy today won the top title at the World Bog Snorkelling Championships.

Phillip John, from Bridgend, south Wales, beat off strong competition to complete the course in one minute and 45 seconds.

The teenager, who also won the junior title, is one of the youngest winners.

A total of 87 people took up the unusual challenge at the Waen Rhydd peat bog, near the mid-Wales village of Llanwrtyd Wells.

It was a record number of entrants for the event, which is now in its 17th year.

Competitors from all over the world had to swim 60 yards along a four foot deep trench cut through the bog.

They used a snorkel and flippers to complete two lengths of the course, without using conventional swimming strokes.

The women’s race was won by Gemma Davies, 18, of Tonypandy, south Wales, in a time of two minutes and three seconds.

The Championships, which are now sponsored by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, began in 1986 after a group of locals in Llanwrtyd Wells got together to discuss ways of making money for charity.

This year, all funds raised from the events will be donated to the mid Wales division of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

A spokeswoman for the sponsors said: "It was a fantastic event. We had brilliant weather and hundreds of people turned out to watch."

It was a triumphant return for the championships which were called off last year because of the foot-and-mouth disease crisis.