This months series of unusual sports presents: Curling Vegetables

Getting people to come to the farmer's market in Berkeley year round is a pretty easy task in our relatively mild climate but is definitely a bit of a challenge in a place such as Ithaca, NY - where you might have to shovel your way through the snow in order to get there. But the clever Cornell Community came up with an unique event that nobody should miss (if you happen to live in Ithaca, that is). 100 people signed up to participate in the Ninth Annual Rutabaga World Championship in December 2006. The Rutabaga Curling competition - brainchild of Steve Sierigk - has become a popular event centered around the rutabaga, a root vegetable that wikipedia describes as a cross between cabbage and white parsnip. This vegetable is not only a healthy food choice but takes on another purpose by being tossed down the hall at the local farmers market. There are no prizes but a lot of cheering will be guaranteed if your rutabaga wobbles closer to the scoring marker.




If you have a few minutes (and it really does not take very long) you should listen to David Sommerstein's coverage on NCPR.

A special thanks goes out to our friends in Ithaca for supplying me with important background information on the event and to Tom who was the first person that ever told me about this.


Do you know of an unusual sport? Drop me a note or leave a comment....