Intro:

Around one thousand spectators braved the overcast conditions on Easter Monday to witness the 49th World Coal Carrying Championships, held in the English town of Gawthorpe in West Yorkshire.

At stake for the King and Queen of the 'Coal Humpers' was a possible place in the Guinness Book of Records and a modest cash prize.

Script:

For many people Easter Monday is a time to spend on the sofa polishing off all that chocolate.

But not in the West Yorkshire town Gawthorpe, where the World Coal Carrying Championships were getting underway.

And yes okay, it might sound funny, but these competitors aren't taking the task lightly.

SOUNDBITE (English): Competitor named "Wally":

"I think it's going to be very hard. I've done a bit of training for it, carrying 50 kilos (kilograms). It can be quite brutal and I'm about to become a granddad in two weeks so I thought I'd give it a go."

And why not? Come on Wally!

The 'Coal Humpers' were off, racing for a possible place in the Guinness Book of Records and a little bit of cash.

But as always, the real prize was pride.

And the men were cheered along 1,100-metre up-hill course by thousands of spectators.

34-year-old Matthew Wainright was hoping to break his own world record of four minutes and six seconds.

He was clearly feeling the strain as he rounded the final corner..

but he dropped that coal bag just in the nick of time.

So a third crown for Wainright with a respectable time of four minutes, 34 seconds.

The women ran the same course as the men, carrying a considerably lighter 10-kilogram bag of coal.

That's the way to do it ladies.

40-year-old Anita Faherty was first over the line in a time of five minutes and eight seconds.

So that's it from this year's 'Coal Humpers'.