After the first workweek of the NCAA basketball tourney , only sixteen teams still have a shot at the title . Your bracket is probably in confusedness . March Madness has brought you nothing but anguish and bother . What ’s a buff to do ? Cheer up , March is n’t just about basketball game . Here are some bully March championships you may have missed , and some you could still catch up with if you hurry . Here are some of our favorites you might have miss :
1. The World Coal Carrying Championships
That ’s not a deceptive title . It ’s an actual championship where people carry ember , and you just lose its most recent running on Monday . The contest started in 1963 in Gawthorpe , a minuscule village in British coal state . Two friend , Reggie Sedgewick and Amos Clapham were enjoying a brewage when a third man , Lewis Hartley teased Sedgewick that he looked a scrap worn out . A vigorous debate over the two fellow ' relative fitness ensue , and it was decided that they would run a race on Easter Monday while carrying orotund release of local coal . Since then the issue has gained fame , but the same basic idea persists : competitors are present a 50 - kilogram bag of coal and told to run from The Royal Oak to the village ’s Maypole , a distance of 1108.25 yards . The world record is held by David Jones of Meltham , who made the springiness in just over four minutes in both 1991 and 1995 .
8 more after the jump .
2. West Virginia Pinewood Derby Championship
The NASCAR and Formula One seasons may be heating up , but some racing purist still prefer to see cars that are carved out of a cube of balsa woods and run only on that cleanest - burning of all fuel : graveness . If you ’re one of those fan who ca n’t wait to see how a little graphite lubricant will affect a couplet of tiny charge card wheels , get to Meadowbrook Mall in Bridgeport , West Virginia on March 28th and 29th for a two day laugher feature as many as 600 Cub Scouts , Boy Scouts , and Girl Scouts rush their creations . If you ca n’t stand to be a spectator pump , there ’s also a Mom ’s and Dad ’s Division ; just recite the organizers that your kid is " that one over there in the Cub Scout uniform . “
3. FIPS-Mouche World Fly Fishing Championships
Should you find yourself on New Zealand ’s North Island between now and Sunday , you might want to consider checking out the 28th World Fly Fishing Championships . The case , which begin on March 22 , is challenging some of the world ’s top goosefish to rive in brownish and rainbow trout from Lake Otamangakau and Lake Rotoaira . Working in five - man teams , the anglers angle in five three - hour session , then have their pinch tally by judge . The team with the highest overall score is the achiever . The genuine winner , though , are the fish . look . No . They ’re the loser .
4. Pan Jiu-Jistu Championship 2008
Brazilian jiu - jitsu is a martial art based on ground combat and grappling . One of its tenet is that a small , weak individual can maintain himself against a potent assaulter by gaining a dominant status through leveraging , then applying a series of joint lock or chokeholds . Sounds passably entertaining to watch , right ? Get to California State University , Dominguez Hills in Carson , California by Friday to see some top - flight grappling .
5. World Championship Cheese Contest
unhappily , we already missed the 2008 edition of this classic , but there ’s no harm in getting activated for the next running of the biyearly event , is there ? The innkeeper of the upshot , the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association describes the event like so : " This contest is an objective assessment of Malva sylvestris and butters and honor gold , silver and bronze medals to the o.k. products in 79 category . “ So if you ’re stock of overly subjective judgment of dairy farm products , this could be the championship for you to find out . congratulations to Michael Spycher of Kaserei Fritzenhaus in Switzerland ; his " Le Gruyere Switzerland" rent home the honors as the humanity champion cheese .
6. Cowboy Action Championship
Another one that ’s already passed , but man , do we ever wish we ’d seen it . Each class the Single Action Shooters Society keep back Winter Range , a national championship to happen upon who is in fact the dissipated , most exact gun in the West . Using only single - natural action firearms , the older " cowboy" style of gun that must be manually cocked between each shot , challenger ride horses through obstruction courses while shooting balloon and stalk through fabricated old - sentence town to snap at model silhouettes of varmints . Next year ’s competition if March 4th-8th near Phoenix . Buy a six - gun and rule book a way now . This videofrom this year ’s competition should tell you all you need to know :
7. National Shag Dancing Championships
" Shag nationals,“ as they ’re hump , have been confine in Myrtle Beach since 1984 as a solemnisation of the swing - dancing variant . The championship allow both professional and recreational shaggers to be judge on the cornerstone of smoothness , degree of difficult , togetherness , execution , and repertory . Each couple ’s dance must display a number of compulsory footprint , include a duck walk , a boogie walking , and a venter paradiddle with a male lead . If you sleep together what any of those idiomatic expression mean , you should for certain find oneself your way to Myrtle Beach for next March ’s annual encounter .
8. Microsoft Server Championship Competition
March Madness conform to American Idol meets IT hombre in this fourth annual championship , which takes place on Saturday at Microsoft ’s Hong Kong office . Three - person teams of programmers meet with a " customer" who gives them a business job . The team must then use Microsoft ’s Visual Studio 2008 , SQL Server 2008 , and Windows Server 2008 to craft an answer to the job . The winning squad gets HK $ 10,000 apiece , free HP laptop computer , and the most sought after host - guru plum of them all : a job audience with Microsoft .
9. American Crossword Puzzle Tournament
Crossword fancier ' annual answer to the World Series was featured in the swell documentary Wordplay , and this year ’s competition came to a ending on March 2nd with a intimate answer : Tyler Hinman , just 23 years old , win the tournament for a fourth time . The yearly contest , which is organized by New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz , sees top puzzlers attempt to accurately complete eight original puzzles as tight as they can . The grand dirty money winner take home $ 5,000 and the adoration of teaser partizan everywhere .
