Conkers tournament accused of ‘tampering’ with frozen hazelnuts

Second largest Chestnut Tournament The use of frozen nuts for the first time in the UK has sparked allegations of “tampering”.

Conkerthon, an annual competition held in Redbourn, Herts, will provide 150 competitors with frozen and preserved horse chestnuts from last year.

The organizers said the decision was due to a chestnut shortage in the autumn Bad weather conditions ruined chestnut harvest.

But critics say frozen horse chestnuts break apart more easily, so games can be over in seconds.

The Conkerthon, which ranks second after the World Conker Championship in Northamptonshire, will be held on Saturday.

Competitors will compete in elimination rounds with a chestnut with a hole drilled in the middle and tied with a rope, and will take turns hitting each other’s chestnuts until one of them breaks.

To prevent competitors from gaining an unfair advantage by using a cured chestnut, tournament organizers source all of their own chestnuts, and this year they said they had “no choice” but to switch to frozen chestnuts.

Frozen chestnuts are a ‘backup plan’

“People say we play with chestnuts, and it’s true that frozen nuts are easier to crack,” said Conkerthon organizer Chris Emmel.

“However, there are not enough good chestnuts this autumn as the nuts were blown off the trees weeks before they were fully grown.

“We have no choice but to use the thawed hazelnuts we put in the freezer last year as a backup plan in case bad weather reduces the chestnut harvest this fall.”

The World Horse Chestnut Championships committee, the game’s governing body, said it was investigating whether the decision was “horse chestnut cheating”.

The committee’s spokesman, St John Burkett, said: “There have been allegations of chestnut depredation at Conkerthon. We are investigating this but it is proving to be a tough nut to crack.”