Shins prepare for a kicking at Olimpicks
SHIN-KICKING and tug-of-war will be the order of the day when the Cotswold Olimpicks return at Dover’s Hill, near Chipping Campden, after a two-year absence tonight.
Dating back to 1612, the Cotswold Olimpicks were founded by Robert Dover, a local barrister.
They were first held more than 12 centuries after the last ancient Greek Olympics and almost three centuries before the modern Olympic Games began in 1896.
This year will be the Games’ 410th anniversary and the event comes at the end of festival season in Chipping Campden, following hot on the heels of the International Music Festival and the Literary Festival.
The programme of events on June 3 includes the official opening, with a reenactment of Dover’s arrival at the Games accompanied by his good friend Endymion Porter.
Events will include the Championship of the Hill, where local teams compete in a variety of rural sports – including sack races and straw carrying – pipe bands, morris dancing, tug of war and the famous shin-kicking competition.
At the end of the Games, a bonfire and fireworks are lit, followed by a torchlit procession from Dover’s Hill back into Chipping Campden. Shinkicking is one of the sports that took place in the very first Games in 1612. Steel toe-capped shoes are banned, but organisers allow the use of straw to pad shins.
Entry to the shin-kicking is free and registration takes place on the night, from 6.30pm.
The King of the Hill is also one of the traditional events at the Games. A precursor to modern events like the pentathlon, it involves individuals competing in four separate events. These are the static jump (jumping as far as possible from a standstill), “spurning the barre” (an old English version of the Scottish tossing the caber), the hammer throw and shot put. The combined total for all four events decides the winner.
Again, entries for this event open at 6.30pm on the night of the Games to all adults over 16. General admission is £6 for adults and £3 for children, with tickets available from www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cotswoldolimpick-games-2022-tickets-276875571287. Food and drink will be available on site, but alcohol is not permitted on Dover’s Hill.
At around 9.30pm, everyone is welcome to take part in the torch procession, which leaves Dover’s Hill and makes its way back to Chipping Campden.
The following day, the annual Scuttlebrook Wake takes place in the town, starting at 1pm.
Wakes have been held in Campden since at least the 12th century, but the current one has its origins in the late 19th century and is named after the Cattle Brook, which flowed through the Leysbourne end of the High Street.