Bath man becomes five-time bog snorkelling world champion

  • Watch our interview with Neil here

It might be cold, dark and smelly, but one man from Bath says he became "hooked" on bog snorkelling after first taking part in the event in 2017.

Seven years later, 35-year-old Neil Rutter has just bagged the title of undefeated champion at the World Bog Snorkelling competition for the fifth year running.

Held in Llanwrtyd Wells in Wales, the annual World Bog Snorkelling Championships sees competitors race to complete two lengths of a 55 metre trench cut through the Waen Rhydd bog.

Now in its 36th year, the event has been capturing the imagination of competitors from around the world ever since it began.

This year saw 157 people race down the muddy trench in an attempt to beat Neil's world record of one minute and 18 seconds.

"The catch is that you've got to do a non-conventional stroke" Credit: Neil Rutter

But in the end, it was Neil who succeeded in breaking his own world record, setting a new personal best of one minute and 12 seconds.

Speaking to ITV West Country, Neil said he knew it was going to be a quick year: "The previous couple of years, it hadn't rained much and it was quite a dry bog. You get a much more gloopy condition, so it slows you down.

"But this year, it's been raining all summer which is perfect bog conditions.

"I suspected it might be fast even before I got in the bog, and sure enough, even with a bit of zig-zagging on the way back, it was a really quick year."

Having topped the podium for five years running, Neil has become an expert in bog snorkelling technique.

"The catch is that you've got to do a non-conventional stroke," he said.

"So you have to find your way, or fight your way even, down this bog in the fastest time usually doing things like doggy paddle, or in my case, just relying on my legs."

Attracting competitors who often sport elaborate fancy dress from all over the world, Lonely Planet recently included the wild bank holiday challenge in its list of "must-do experiences".

But Neil has been tempted to try the wacky challenge ever since he first came across it in 2005.

Neil has won the crazy race five times now Credit: Neil Rutter

He said: "I was at university with my friend, and the pair of us looked at it and said, 'C'mon, we've got to do that this summer.'"

However, it wasn't until over a decade later, in 2017, that Neil finally took the plunge as part of a surprise for his friend's birthday.

He said: "We all got in one after the next and had a go, and somehow at the end of the day I had the fastest time and I'd won it.

"I was hooked, and I had to come back."

He's taken part every year since, with the exception of 2020 and 2021 when the pandemic forced the event to be cancelled.

Next year though, he's says he'll be hanging up his snorkel and taking a break.

"The 2024 world championship in bog snorkelling is wide open to anyone who wants to tackle it, and I really suggest you do."