What would you say is the most upper class event in the sporting calendar? The Boat Race? Royal Ascot? The Henley Regatta? No, it is of course the Chap Olympiad! Now in it’s seventh year, the Chap Olympiad does not celebrate the athletic excellence that will be visited upon Stratford this summer, and instead rewards immaculate trouser creases and the size of the curl in one’s handlebar moustache.
Organised by those delightful fellows at The Chap magazine, the event is described as ‘anarcho-dandyism’, taking the ostentatious peacocking of dandyism and adding a splash of devil-may-care anarchy. It’s all about dressing up in your elegant finery, formal wear or dandywear but adding a touch of the ridiculous by competing against each other in various gentlemanly disciplines.
For the first time, popular demand now requires that the Olympiad runs over two days. Comedy fans may recall Monty Python’s ‘Upper Class Twit of the Year’ which has clearly inspired some of the events here. At the Olympiad, you may wish to try your hand at cucumber sandwich discus, ironing board surfing or the steeplechase, where chaps wear horse masks and are jockeyed by chappettes over treacherous six-inch high obstacles. If you prefer your sport a little more vocal then you may wish to have a go at Butler Baiting, or the ever popular Shouting at Foreigners.
If team sports are more your thing, then have a go at the Martini knockout relay, where teams of four have to prepare the perfect dry martini over a ten yard course. If you fancy yourself as a debonair, distinguished dapper gent, then dig out your pipe, monocle and Brylcreem then this is the event for you. Cocktails will be supplied by Bourne and Hollingsworth, with food, including a classic afternoon tea, served all day.
Tickets cost £20 for one day, or £30 for both days, a small price to pay to display your gentlemanly calibre. The quintessential event for tweed clad British eccentrics and charming chappettes everywhere!
Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th July
Bedford Square, WC1
www.thechapolympiad.com