It’s hard to accept ...but our conkers have gone too soft

THE softest chestnuts in 57 years left disgruntled conker bashers fighting the shortest bouts ever at this year’s world championships.

A summer drought and autumn’s torrential storms were blamed for some competition conkers being smashed to smithereens in seconds.

Last week’s event, held in the Northamptonshire village of Southwick, as it has been every year since 1965, saw some nuts split after only a single strike and a record number of games lasting under two minutes.

Experts claimed the lack of rain throughout July and August slowed the growth of conkers, before a sopping September triggered a late spurt that left the nuts with weak outer layers too feeble to withstand attack.

Championship organiser St John Burkett said: ‘It’s a freak year. We’ve never known conkers this soft since the event began in 1965. Some were literally breaking in seconds.

‘They are big conkers this year, but shatter easily. A bigger nut is not stronger for conker fights.’

In the past, organisers have had to guard against skulduggery, with some desperate duellists hardening their conkers artificially. ‘It’s ironic that our sport now has a problem of soft nuts after years of players soaking them in vinegar or baking them in the oven,’ added Mr Burkett.

Hundreds of competitors from around the world took part in last Sunday’s championships, requiring several thousand conkers. Experts say the strongest ones are mediumsized and circular, picked fresh from the ground below an older tree.

Twin conkers in a single shell are not favoured because they break more easily as their flat side is weaker, conker cognoscenti claim.

World Conker Championship contestants cannot use their own conkers, but must draw a nut from a bag before their bout. School nurse Fee Aylemore won the women’s title after 30 years of trying, while Randy Topolnitsky, from Calgary in Canada, was named men’s champion.