The Peckham Conker Championships 2018 went ahead last weekend with fifty people turning out to do ‘Battle Royale’ at Brick Brewery on Saturday.
Prizes at the second ever annual event set up by Yorkshireman and conker enthusiast Chris Quigley included ‘meat, beer, and life-changing kudos’.
Those competing at Blenheim Grove had the option of following ‘Orthodox’ play or ‘Battle Royale’ rules where anything goes – including the practice of ‘stampsies’, where people attempt to smash their competitor’s conker with their feet.
The under-18s winner, Noah, aged nine, triumphed with the help of his ‘specially modded’ conker.
Organiser Chris told the News: “Noah had been soaking his conker in vinegar for weeks, and was pretty close to invincible.”
The adult winner is only known by his conker alias, ‘The Rock’.
“He quite literally had the hardest (and smallest) conker known to man”, said Chris. “The Rock had oven-roasted his, and it was probably harder than most rocks I’ve come across.
“In the end we had about 50-plus people take part. The competition was played in good spirits, with a lot of fun around the ‘stampsies’ rule – with people leaping on each others conkers trying to crush them.”