Thursday May 5, 09:41 AM
Contestants will get their kicks from a special games event to be held next month.
The Cotswold Olimpicks, at Chipping Campden in Gloucestershire, on June 3, will feature the bizarre sport of shin-kicking.
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The competition involves two contestants filling their trouser legs with straw to help reduce the pain. The players then hold arms and kick each other with steel toe-capped boots until one contestant is so bruised that he cannot stand it any longer and gives in.
The games also include marching bands, cannon fire, rustic pursuits and, at the end, fireworks.
The Olimpicks were established by local barrister Robert Dover in 1612 and were revived in 1951.
The Shin-Kicking Association of Great Britain - motto "If it ain't broke, yer not kickin' hard enough" - wants shin-kicking included in the 2012 Olympics to mark the 400th anniversary of Mr Dover's inaugural event.
Press Association