Where: Coxheath, Kent
£: It costs £40 per team to enter.
What is it?
Thousands of custard pies will be flying, hoping to hit their target, at this year’s World Custard Pie Championship at Coxheath in Kent on Saturday 4th June 2016.
The event has been taking place since 1967, and this year begins with The Grand Parade at 2pm, led in by a local jazz band. The championship will continue until 4pm, when the presentation of trophies will take place.
New for 2016 is the children’s Wet Sponge Throwing Competition, which will start at 1pm, and will hopefully encourage the Custard Pie Throwing Champions of the future.
This year the championship is expecting 28 teams of four to be taking part. Teams will be dressed in Victorian costume or ‘with it’ gear, making it a spectacular sight and a must see for all custard pie enthusiasts out there!
There are strict rules to the ‘Battle of the Pies’, and judges who are well versed in the art and tradition of custard pie throwing, keep the score. All teams play two games in the heats and the 4 top scoring teams are taken forward to the semi-finals.
The ‘strict’ rules to the competition are as follows:
1. Each contestant should be 8’3¼” from the target (aka the opposing team member). This is the distance officially approved by pie throwing experts.
2. Pies should measure no more than 10¼” in diameter or 2.47cm in depth.
3. Pies can only be thrown with the left hand.
4. Pies should be held flat in the hand.
5. The pies should not be raised above shoulder height.
6. Points will be awarded for direct hits and near misses as follows:
a. 6 Points for a direct hit (this must strike squarely on the face).
b. Three points for a near miss (from shoulder height upwards).
c. one point for a pie hitting any other part of the body.
d. Two consecutive misses and the team member forfeits one point.
7. On no account should any contestant be in possession of more than three pies.
8. Targets may avoid pies, but should not take more than 3’2” or one step in any direction.
9. At no time should any pie be a greater distance from the ground than that previously agreed with the judge. Account will be taken of wind velocity, danger to onlookers and the general fitness of contestants to cope with pies flying at high speeds.
10. No compensation can be awarded to any onlooker who is either deliberately or accidentally daubed with a quantity of pie filling, unless this should exceed the average quantity of custard eaten per head in the year 1987.
11. Teams drawn to compete against each other will act as their own human targets.
12. Judges well versed in the art of Custard Pie Throwing will award points for direct hits etc. (see rule 6) and for the most amusing and original method of attack.
13. Special marks will be awarded by the judges for dress, maximum 6 points when the teams parade for the Championship.
So now that’s clear, who is up for a face full of pie?
More info: www.worldcustardpiechampionship.co.uk