Secretive Sports
A Three-Part Series On Sports You Have Probably Never Heard About
A. J. Baker
HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED EXTREME IRONING? Have you ever even heard of Extreme Ironing? Probably not. After stumbling across the sport on social media, it struck me when I found out it was a genuine sport, with a surprisingly strong following and a competitive annual Extreme Ironing World Championships.
What is Extreme Ironing? This sport is an extreme sport where an athlete takes an ironing board, an iron, and garments of clothing to the most unique or remote location to successfully iron clothes. This often combines the monotonous task of ironing with extreme thrill seeking such as skydiving. Furthermore, athletes attempt to capture the most outstanding photographs of their journey, and more importantly, action shots mid-iron. However, it is so much more than a bit of comedy, for it combines the aspect of thrill stemming from danger as well as satisfaction from a crinkle free shirt.
In 1997, an English factory worker, Phil Shaw, had an epiphany after a long day of work: the draining task of ironing his clothes for the week would prevent him from rock climbing that evening. That evening, Shaw had the revolutionary idea of moving his ironing board out of the laundry and enjoyed ironing from his backyard, in turn, inventing the extreme sport of ironing.
You’re probably wondering if there are any rules or if one can just iron wherever they please and claim to be an elite extreme ironer. Surprisingly, the sport is divided into categories consisting of Urban, Water, Forest, Lauda (involves climbing up a wall or to an elevated area) and the Freestyle category. All these divisions follow the same three basic rules; The ironing board must have legs and be at least a metre long and 30cm wide, the iron must be a metal iron (ideally containing some iron), and participants must iron a garment larger than the size of a standard tea towel. With the basics of the sport down, one would think they could instantly dominate. However, the sport is surprisingly competitive, with annual world championships consisting of the finest ironers globally.
The Extreme Ironing Bureau, or EIB, has big plans for the future of the sport, including global tours in an attempt to spread awareness of the sport. This has been effective across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand after previous global tours. This body of ironing enthusiasts is responsible for organising and regulating the previously mentioned championship events and local tournaments.
Some of the greatest moments in extreme ironing history include the infamous Everest iron. In 2007, John Roberts, Ben Gibbons and Christopher Jowsey achieved a milestone in history after ironing the Union Jack at the audacious height of 20,000 feet above sea level. This was conducted just past Mount Everest base camp and remains the world altitude record for the sport today.
In the meantime, it is something that the average person can do, regardless of physical prowess. The next time you need to iron, think about moving your pressing game from the laundry room to the great outdoors. We can’t all be Tom Brady or Michael Jordan, but we can be our own champions of Extreme Ironing.