From bog snorkeling to cheese rolling, unique sports take hold around the world

Tired of going to the gym? Bored with the same old baseball, football and basketball? Well rest assured, there is no shortage of interesting, albeit strange, sports throughout the world to pursue.

In the Welsh town of Llanwrtyd, contestants can test their stamina and agility in the annual Man Versus Horse Marathon. Every June, runners compete against riders on horseback over 22 miles. Since the founding of the event in 1980, only 2 humans have come out on top, even with the 15-minute delayed start for the horses.

Equine rivalry not appealing? Perhaps an aquatic sport is more desirable. If a traveler decides to remain in Wales, they can try bog snorkelling. Competitors don snorkels and flippers and swim their way through a water-filled trench cut through a peat bog. The World Bog Snorkeling Championships takes place every August Bank Holiday, so start practicing now.

For those who pride themselves on their superior digits, toe wrestling is now a competitive sport. From its humble beginnings in a pub in Derbyshire, UK, The World Toe Wrestling Competition has come a long way. They applied to get the sport included in the Olympics, but no such luck—toes crossed for 2012!

For a more international experience, give fistball a try. The goal of the game is to hit the ball with one’s fist or arm and land it in the opponent’s half where they can’t reach it. A combination of tennis, volleyball and four-square, the sport is featured in The World Games and is played all over the world.

Some people love hockey so much that the idea of waiting through the long, hot months of summer for the return of their beloved sport is unbearable. Luckily there is a solution for such despair—just play Octopush. It’s underwater hockey, a non-contact sport that takes place on the bottom of a pool. Teams maneuver a puck across the pool bottom and try to score goals. This game has become quite popular in the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand

Perhapes there is no activity that’s more physically and mentally challenging then that of chess boxing. A combination of boxing and chess, the two activities alternate each round, with games lasting up to 11 rounds. Four-minute chess rounds are followed by two minutes of boxing. Created by a Dutch artist, the first world championship was held in Amsterdam in 2003.

Sometimes the urge comes upon an individual to challenge an inanimate object to a race. If this sounds familiar, look no further than cheese rolling. One of the simplest sports out there, a round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled from the top of a hill and participants race after it. The first one to the finish line wins the cheese. But use caution—the cheese can reach speeds of up to 112 km/hr, and in 1997 the cheese went rogue and accidentally injured a spectator when it careened off course.

Click here for epic pictures of this year's event in Boston Globe's The Big Picture.

There are extreme sports like skydiving and bungee jumping, but if one’s travels take them to Japan, they should consider taking part in an established international sport with a small but devoted following—extreme ironing. Participants take ironing into remote and dangerous locations, like the top of Mount Fuji. Before rushing off into the wilderness with dirty laundry, participants must take a moment to choose what style they prefer to compete in. There’s freestyle, urban, rocky, forest and underwater.

Around the world, whether people are competing underwater or on top of mountains, competing against animal or cheese, one aspect these of games remains the same: people enjoy getting out, getting active and having fun. No matter the country, no matter the place, there is always

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