Mud, flippers and snorkels: Wales celebrates 40 years of bog racing

The August bank holiday weekend in Britain is often the opportunity for many to take part in unusual activities and this year lived up to expectations.

For mud-lovers in Wales, that meant a day spent at the World Bog Snorkelling Championships which celebrated its 40th anniversary in Llanwrtyd Wells.

Competitors raced through a peat bog using snorkels, with flippers permitted but conventional swimming strokes banned.

The event, which began as a tourism initiative, continues to attract participants and spectators to the rural Welsh town, offering an unusual test of endurance, technique and a right old laugh.