Well, the 4th of May is usually star wars day, so we went to look at some unidentified water bombing objects (UWBOs), which seemed like a fitting event. This is actually the name of the university of Sheffield library's actual water bombing team. Yes, I managed to get my self a job where actual world champions work.
We arrive at Ponds Forge swimming pool for the World Championship Water Bombing Competition, and are struck by, no not the grandeur of the occasion, but the heat. It was like a sauna at the poolside. As we took out seats in the stands, I was hopeful we would loose at least a couple of pounds in sweat. Something needs to happen after all the tapas and San Miguel in Ibiza! Anyway...
On reading through the program, we discover it really is a world championship, a team had travelled from as far away as Coventry. But mainly all the teams are Sheffield and surrounding areas based. The Championships are in fact, an excellent fundraising event for Macmillan Cancer Research.
After a small sweltering wait, the games were underway. The teams paraded out to the side of the pool, and we had a taster of what was in store for the evening. There were fully grown adults in nappies (Water babies), the predictable men in nurses uniforms (The defending champions), a few school girl outfits (clearly trying to get the adult male vote), a school teacher and an odd looking Morris Dancing troupe (maybe they had turned up at the wrong community event). Our team, the UWBO had outfits designed by local school kids and got the biggest cheer. They were dressed as various odd looking space creatures in full body suits with space related accessories.
One member from each team had a jump, made a splash, got a score from the judging panel, and tried to get out the pool in the most dignified way, whist carrying bits of their outfit they had become separated from during the bomb. It was very exciting, we loved the splashes, loved watching the various bits of lost outfit sink to to the bottom of the pool (mainly the Morris dancers' hats), and cheered very loudly for our team and help up giant 10 scores.
At the end, our team were silver medal winners, the nurses retained their title. But, the UWBOs proudly stepped up to first place for the team that raised the most money for Macmillan Cancer Research (£2700). Yay for the UWBOs.
All in all a good evening, and I can safely say I never want to see a grown man squeezing out pool water from his nappy again, and I wasn't impressed with the practicality of water bombing in a mankini, it didn't seem to be covering much when the bloke got out the water. It gave Maisie something to talk about on the school bus though!
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