Outdoor Events

The Chockdog Flinging Contest

Chockdog Chuckers Cheer for Cheese

The annual Chockdog Flinging competition is once again arousing great interest this year with a larger than ever competitive field in this, its 639th year.

Taking place each year at Mottistone on 14th April [ ye daye of Murklinge], "Chockdogge chuckinge" is a native Isle of Wight sport that has taken place each year since the 14th century.

Will Hearn fails in his obstruction of Johnny "Babyface" Attrill as he hoists the winning fling in this year's contest. Poor obstruction moves, such as this, often lead to spectator riots.

This year sees not only the return of all the usual favourites but also a good entry of new competitors. Jack Dewsbury, a well known star of the World Nettle Eating Contest at the Bottle Inn at Marshwood near Crewkerne, has decided to voyage here and show Islanders why they call him "The Stinger".

Islander Pete Forster, a keen cricketer, and known locally as one of the best fielders in the game, has also entered this year, hoping that the 'Forster Fling' will transfer readily to the throwing of cheeses.

Ben Attrill believes that his job with Wightlink [throwing the rope to tie up the catamaran ferry] will allow him to cover a good distance with his chockdog.

But this year the new contestant to watch out for is Jim Morgan, a regular at The Coopers Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake, near Brockworth, Gloucestershire. He has shown excellent form in cheese rolling at Coopers Hill over the last 6 years and, being a farm labourer, believes he has the arm/shoulder strength capacity to beat the Islanders at their own game. Critics have pointed out that, unlike in cheese rolling, technique counts a great deal in chockdog chucking and commentators do not feel he has developed a sufficient skill in the initial launching.

Umpires prepare the Chockdog cheeses for the 2005 contest.

A Chockdog, also known as Isle of Wight Rock, is the native Isle of Wight cheese made from skimmed milk and traditionally kept for nine years to make it excessively hard and dry. This cheese has not been made to be sold or eaten for over a century and is now only made for this event.

The history of this cheese is bound in legend. According to ancient sources, in one of the raids by the French on the Island, when the Islanders ran short of bullets, they cut small pieces of their chockdog cheese and loaded their guns with it. They fired into the French lines with great effect. Another story tells of people cutting a hole through the middle of the cheese and using it as a grindstone to sharpen their knives. Describing the cheese in 1795, Rev. Richard Warner said, "It is extremely hard; can scarcely be cut but by a hatchet or saw; is to be masticated only by the firmest teeth; and digested only by the strongest stomachs.¹"

Contestants race up Mottistone Down in the scramble for their Chockdogs.

During the time when Chockdog Flinging was the main event of the Spring fayre, it was the only way to prove you were a real Caulkhead [the name for a true native Islander] as only real Islanders, with much sweating, grunting and swearing, could heave a full 20 lb Chockdog over the Longstone at Mottistone. 

The aim of the competition is to throw your Chockdog cheese as far over the famous 12 foot Longstone as you can. The Longstone is an ancient Celtic standing stone that was used for religious and civil ceremonies.

Joe Corney is scrutinised carefully by an umpire as he prepares to throw his chockdog cheese.

Despite the large numbers of new entrants, this year's event promises to be a thrilling clash between five past champions. Tyler Hughes, 2002 and 2003 winner, purred, "Well, I hope to beat everyone at this year's competition, as I was the winner for two years in a row. My forearm muscles are feeling good, duckie. I hope to bring the trophy back to my home town of Sandown."

Another welcome return is Phlegmatic Phil Bartlet who won the competition in 2000 but has been absent since with Chockdog Chafe, a particularly unpleasant muscular condition, only transmitted through beer. His humiliatingly mincing throw in 2001, followed by a disgraceful collapse, led to suspicions that his beer had been laced. But now, after years of training under the supervision of the great Harry Ratsey, Phil is ready to perform his "Bartlet Bouncer" again.

Holding a 20 lb chockdog, Ed "The Nest of Death" Hearn shows why he is still a force to be reckoned with. Notice the safety helmet that more and more contestants are wearing these days.

Many commentators have been dismissing William Hearn as a "one-cheese-wonder" but, ever since his victory against appalling odds in 2001 [you remember! The one where his coach forced him to wear a dress for the competition and despite shameful jeers and horrendous pummelling from the spectators, and with blood streaming into his eyes, Will was able to break away from their grasp for valuable seconds and still managed to hurl his cheese a full 3 ells further than the runner up] he has shown consistent form with a 3rd place, two 2nd places and a 4th place.

Edward Bartlett, winner of the 1909 competition, and the only person ever to cause a fatality in the whole history of Chockdog Flinging, when a particularly viscious, slicing mis-throw caught an umpire in the head, instantly killing him. Bartlett never threw another Chockdog in anger again.

Make sure you watch out for Terry "Tantrum" Groves: if this year is anything to go by, he'll be stamping his little booty and biting the ear off more umpires in 2006! This coming year's contest looks set to be the best ever and surely the ancestors of the present day Islanders will be most heartily proud of their modern counterparts.
Expect broken limbs, ejaculating blood and lost tempers. Don't expect a "Please" or a "Thank you" when the chockdogs start to fly! Keep your socks on and your mouth firmly closed!

1 =	The history of the Isle of Wight; military, ecclesiastical, civil, & natural: to which is added a view of its agriculture. Rev. Richard Warner [Southampton, 1795]