Knob throwing festival in Dorset cancelled after growing too large

A knob throwing contest in Dorset has had to be cancelled as it has grown too large for the organisers.

The event was due to take place in Cattistock on May 1 alongside the Frome Valley Food Festival which has also been called off.

The contest sees people lining up to throw a Dorset knob - a hard biscuit - as far as they can.

The record, set in 2012, currently stands at 96ft.

This year will be the third in a row the event has not gone ahead, as Covid meant they were cancelled in 2020 and 2021.

At the last event in 2019 more than 8,000 people attended and organisers now say the event is too big for them to manage.

The Dorset Knob Throwing Committee said: "It is with great sadness that the Dorset Knob Throwing and Frome Valley Food Festival is unable to go ahead.

"We had over 8,000 people attend the 2019 event, meaning it has reached such a size that it simply cannot be run by a small voluntary village committee.

"We’ve looked at various options but sadly couldn’t make any of them work for this year for many reasons.

"We also sadly lost the support of our event management team late in 2021 and agreements with Moores Biscuits to provide the biscuits for the event’s games also took much longer than anticipated.

"We hope the event can return soon in years to come."