although only one is destined to become the winner healthy competition makes all participants a little better you have to admit that sometimes we all want to be faster stronger or smarter than the rest however there are competitions that take human abilities to a whole new level they test not only physical strength but also endurance and the drive to win some consider them cruel some crazy or meaningless but one thing is certain they are very spectacular and impressive and today we'll talk about these contests and see where the will to win might take a person let's get it on [Music] monkey bridge to see the first unusual competition for today let's go to Vietnam but not to a large city but away from cars and glass skyscrapers into the countryside well let's start with what this monkey bridge is all about Vietnam is a humid country with many streams ponds and rivers to cross them people build narrow wooden or bamboo bridges they look flimsy but they withstand human weight just fine there's only one drawback no handrails so sometimes it's easier to walk across the river and then try to maintain balance while on the bridge such bridges have become a kind of symbol of Vietnam in the rest of the world they are known as monkey bridges walking on them is very difficult and just imagine how difficult it would be to drive on it in a vehicle so we got to the essence of the very first competition for today the goal seems to be easy enough to ride a bicycle on the bridge from the beginning to the very end but it's easier said than done only a few people can pull it off the winner gets joyful cheers of the crowd and a feeling of satisfaction the loser gets cold water sand in his underwear and a lot of laundry to do toe wrestling thoughts that come to mind of drunk people can surprise shock scare or in our case give birth to perhaps the weirdest competitions in the world the regulars of a small pub in Staffordshire England once decided to test the strength of their toes it happened in 1976 and here right in the pub the very first contest was hosted despite the apparent absurdity of the idea the competition became popular and 44 years later it spread across the entire world the phrase toe wrestling will surprise most people or make them smile however the participants of this unusual contest take it very seriously if they prepare for each fight train their toes and feet all this in order to win 9 seconds of glory [Music] [Applause] yep you heard right each wrestling match lasts only nine seconds three for each round the first match always starts with the right foot followed by the left foot if after two rounds the winner is still not identified the third round is the decisive one and if you still don't take this sport seriously you should know that toe wrestling is very traumatic participants try so hard that they often go to the hospital with sprains and even fractures wild animals race horse racing is popular entertainment which dates back to the ancient times of ancient Rome in Babylonia and although every year these competitions attract an incredible amount of spectators the guys from Canterbury Park decided that they want to step it up a notch vs horses are still competing on this racetrack in Chicopee Minnesota however in addition to race horses they also stage wild animals racing featuring camels ostriches and zebras and if you think these races are no different from the rest no this ostriches and zebras are non domestic animals that are not used to having a rider on their backs and this is why these competitions are on our list today according to the participants riding a zebra or an ostrich is like riding an uncontrolled car there are only two speeds zero and maximum almost nothing depends on the skill of the rider the luck determines the winner few riders can hold on the back of the obstinate animal to the very end [Music] [Applause] got it holy cow bird bird bird bird is the word for those concerned about animal cruelty we shall mention that the animals on the track are completely safe riders do not use spurs or whips and animals are not harmed death race the name alone is enough to understand that we are talking about a really serious and exhausting competition only the most desperate and brave people participate in the death race held in Pittsfield Vermont when the participants enter the competition and get to the starting point they have no idea what lies ahead literally the details of each race are kept secret so each stage of it ends up being a surprise and unpleasant one the allotted time is also undisclosed the only thing that everyone knows is that the death race means 36 to 70 hours of brutal trials that follow one another without brakes the Daredevils don't even have any time to rest let alone sleep carrying 10 to 15 kilograms of stones and a backpack weeding grass and chopping wood for hours walking for 12 hours in the mountains at night are all just a small part of what the participants might face they can also be forced to aimlessly move huge boulders hold their breath underwater crawl in the mud or under barbed wire climb over heavy obstacles or crouched 3,000 times if you think that the organizers are doing all they can just to break the participants well you're right bog snorkeling and here's another competition that squeamish people won't like much however such people are not allowed there anyway it's the world championship of snorkeling in a bog just in case let's clarify that snorkeling is a type of swimming the person equipped with swim fins a diving mask and a breathing tube goes underwater usually this type of entertainment is chosen when a person wants to enjoy the picturesque view of the seafloor however there is no view in this case at all all around is mud grass and muddy water so basically you can't see a thing the task of the participants is as simple as possible to go down into the bog and then swim the designated distance as quickly as possible people do it to test themselves and get new unusual experiences the event has a humorous undertone so the participants often wear funny costumes our personal favorite is the crocodile man [Applause] fireball soccer it's no secret that fire is the worst choice for games and entertainment but the Indonesian youth who invented this dangerous sport apparently did not get the memo the participants gather soca coconut which serves as a ball with kerosene set it on fire and play the most ordinary soccer surprisingly they don't wear any protection the guys touch the burning ball with their bare feet but they say they do not feel any pain turns out that fireball soccer is an actual tradition that is closely related to Indonesia and martial art before the game begins all their participants go through a kind of initiation ritual and that is why they seem to feel neither fear danger the game lasts for a total of about an hour until the coconut has completely burned pea shooting to be honest we already want to give England an honorary championship award for inventing the weirdest and most absurd competitions because it is here in the village of which him Kenbridge sure that the world championship in shooting peas from homemade guns has been held for almost 50 years the history of this unusual sport is no less comical than what it entails it all happened in 1971 a local teacher mr. Tyson took away the tubes that students were using for pinging their classmates with peas from the back of the class a little later the inventive man came up with the idea of the competition well today half a century later the championship attracts people from all over the world from the United States and Spain to New Zealand they say that the most important thing you need to win is to choose the right peas and how hard to puff participants shoot at the targets from a distance of 3.5 meters bamboo drifting if you thought the previous contest was strange then wait until you see this one standing on a thin bamboo trunk instead of a boat arming yourself with the stick and showing the real wonders of balancing to sum this idea will not seem too tempting but not to these people from the Chinese guangzhou city they do this regularly and even managed to turn the hobby into an exotic sport it looks quite graceful but not when a novice does it the bamboo trunk is narrow slippery and very unstable however the athletes are not masochists the explanation is much simpler the thing is in ancient times before the bridges and boats were invented bamboo trunks were an affordable and popular way to cross rivers in this area well and these bamboo drifters are just upholding the traditions of their ancestors self-transcendence marathon we have reached the last amazing competition for today the participants do not ride Tigers drive on the bottom of the ocean or compete at rolling watermelons however they deserve to be on our list because this is the longest certified race in the world this is where people really get a chance to test what their worth it's amazing how in this marathon runners cross 5,000 kilometers you will not believe that it takes them only 52 days for some however that's not enough sometimes people spend over 60 days covering this distance the race starts every morning at 6 o'clock and continues until midnight the highway runs through the city and circles a block in Queens New York during the whole competition people run almost 6,000 laps and it's also part of the competition because it is psychologically difficult to run for so long in the same place [Music]