World mountain bike chariot championships, Powys, Wales

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your gears. The village of Llanwrtyd Wells in Powys may be more famous for hosting the World Bog Snorkelling Championships and the Man versus Horse race, but mountain bike charioteering looks a lot more fun. Two cyclists haul a third team member riding a chariot (supplied by the organisers) around a muddy figure-of-eight, obstacle-strewn course. Qualify from the heats with one of the four fastest times and you'll find yourself in the grand final. This is only the event's second year (it's based on the annual Saturnalia festival the Romans celebrated in December or Janurary each year), so it's an ideal opportunity to don your toga (not obligatory but encouraged) and have a crack at it before the sport inevitably gets more serious and the elite athletes get a stranglehold on the gold medals. Those who crash out early can consloe themselves with the Roman Saturnalia Winter Warmer Beer Festival, which runs at the same time.

• When: 10 January 2009. Entry fee: £15 per team (two riders and one charioteer - minimum age 18). green-events.co.uk, +44 (0)1591 610850

Clog cobbing, Lancashire

For those readers not hailing from the town of Rawtenstall in Lancashire, clog cobbing is the sport of throwing an old working boot. Its genius lies in its simplicity: competitors have three goes at hurling a boot (there's a wide selection on offer) backwards over a shoulder down the road outside the Roebuck Inn. The boot must be gripped by the toe, heel or tongue and, most importantly, must land on the road and not in the river running nearby (there's a 50p fine for any that do). Apparently, the key to success is in the way you swing the boot between your legs before launching it into the air. World champion form for men is around 30m, or 20m or more for women.

• When: Easter Monday (13 April 2009). Entry fee: £1. +44 (0)1706 214174

World stone skimming championships, Argyll, Scotland

Once a year hundreds of competitors congregate on Easdale Island, the smallest permanently inhabited island of the Inner Hebrides (population 60), to do battle in one of the world's less conventional sporting arenas: a flooded slate quarry. Happily for readers who see the referral of sporting decisions to a video umpire as a sign of the impending collapse of society, the stones are not judged on how many skips they make (although they have to do at least three) but the distance they travel before they sink. To give you an idea of whether you're in with a chance, the champion is usually the person who manages to get their stone to hit the back wall of the quarry, a mere 63m away. "Toss on," as they say.

• When: Usually the last Sunday in September. Entry fee: £4 for three skims.stoneskimming.com

World crazy golf championships, Sussex

Piece of cake, really. Just time the ball so it avoids the sails of the mini-windmill, pace it so it doesn't drop into the water feature at the back, and aim it so it bounces off those three bizarrely angled walls and into the hole. Only trouble is, this world championship in Hastings, East Sussex, is played over six rounds - three of crazy golf and three of the more subtly infuriating mini-golf (bumps and slopes replacing the waterwheels and obelisks) - and you'll need to be on your mettle for every one of the 108 holes to make the cut. At that point, the top 18 players from the international field tussle for the £1,000 prize money in one final round made even (ahem) crazier by the introduction of some of the nastier rules of croquet.

• When: A weekend in late October 2009. Entry fee: £25. worldcrazygolf.co.uk

World's biggest liar, Cumbria

With a first prize of £50,000, plus the winner's weight in plovers' eggs, this is one of the most lucrative world championships on the planet. Or at least it would be if that were true. The World's Biggest Liar contest takes place every year at the Bridge Inn at Santon Bridge in Cumbria and former winners include comedienne Sue Perkins. It was inspired by 19th-century landlord Will Ritson, who was a renowned teller of tall tales, including one in which local turnips grew so large they could be hollowed for use as sheep sheds. If you think you can do better, you have just less than a year to fine-tune a 10-minute yarn to hoodwink the assembled masses. Of course, the best thing about the competition is that, even if you don't win it, you can return home to your family and friends and tell them you did.

• When: November 2009. Entry fee: Free.santonbridgeinn.com/liar
+44 (0)1946 726221.

• Further events can be found in Wacky Nation (wackynation.com) by James Bamber and Sally Raynes, published by Icon at £12.99