M is for Modern Pentathlon

For my A-Z challenge this year I'm taking a look at sports. Olympic ones, ancient ones, weird ones and some just non sporting sports.  I'm not athletic or even particularly fit but there are some sports I enjoy watching and in composing my posts I've come across many that I'd never heard of.  Join me in a sporting journey from the comfort of your couch (or wherever else you're reading this) and thanks for stopping by.

There are two M Olympic sports, Marathon Swimming and Modern Pentathlon. You all know how I love swimming and endurance sports so let's talk about the Pentathlon.

When it was part of the ancient games it consisted of running, jumping, spear throwing, discus and wrestling. Thankfully it's come a long way from then being part of the modern Olympics since 1912. It now consists of pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding and running. It's also evolved from being held over 5 days to being a one day event which it makes it much more interesting for spectators. The final events of shooting and running are also combined. Another inovation is that the pistols are now lasers which not only makes it safer but has less environmental impact.

It still sounds like it must take a lot of dedication and strength to be able to do well at all those disciplines especially when the running is over cross country. Definitely not something for the faint hearted.

Counts me out then.

On to a more likely M sport for me - Motor Racing. I like to drive but I'm not a speed freak so I don't think I'd be winning any races but of course Motor Racing is a wide ranging term. Within it you have Midget Car Racing. Yep midget sized cars. I prefer mine full size with plenty of leg and head room.

Then there is Monstor Truck racing. They really are like monstors and the racing involves a lot of stunt style driving. I prefer to keep my cars free of dents.

Finally I give you Mud Racing. Yep driving cars through mud. Or just running through mud. Tough Mudder races have become very popular but it doesn't sound like fun at all to me and I certainly wouldn't want to be doing the clean up!




I'll just stick to using my car to get me from A - B and going shopping. Shopping can be classed as a sport right?