Dorset's iconic knob-throwing competition has been cancelled as organisers announced it had grown too big to be run by a village committee.
Organisers of the Dorset Knob Throwing event say it’s too large for them to run properly and also have a ‘knob’ supply issue.
The Dorchester event brings together people of all ages to throw local hard biscuits – or knobs – and is measured to see whose biscuit is thrown the furthest.
Officials say it’s now too popular to host, and “agreements to provide the biscuits for the event’s games also took much longer than anticipated”.
The Knob Throwing and Frome Valley Food Festival, which was launched in 2008, was originally due to be held on May 1 this year.
In 2019, the event attracted over 8,000 people from across the UK.
A disagreement over the venue meant it didn’t take place in 2020, and it was scrapped last year too because of Covid.
Committee chair Alexandra Watts said: “It is with great sadness that the Dorset Knob Throwing and Frome Valley Food Festival is unable to go ahead on May 1.
“We had more than 8,000 people attend the 2019 event, meaning it has reached such a size that it simply cannot be run by a small village committee.
“We’ve looked at various options but sadly couldn’t make any of them work for this year for many reasons.”
Knobs used in the contest are a traditional Dorset biscuit made using fermented dough and given three separate bakings.
The contest sees up to 4000 rivals try to hurl their knobs – a type of Dorset biscuit dating back hundreds of years.
People can also take part in guess the weight of the biggest knob, a knob and spoon race and knob darts.
The festival has had other issues before.
In 2017 there was disaster when rainy weather made the biscuits soggy and heavier and harder to toss, so the furthest any of the competitors could throw their knob fell well short of the world record.
The 2018 event was cancelled following an argument with Moores, creators of the famous Dorset Knob biscuit.
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