The World Bog Snorkelling Championships through the lens of Callum O’Keefe

One of the things Callum O’Keefe spends a lot of his spare time looking for when mulling over a new idea for a photo project is eccentric events that take place annually in the UK. Something like the World Bog Snorkelling Championships, which happens in the small rural town of Llanwrtyd Wells in South Wales.

Bog snorkelling is, well... exactly that. It’s snorkelling in a bog. A 60 metre swim in a peat bog, to be exact – a unique test of endurance that offers a world title for the taking, alongside a bunch of other bog-themed events. The idea was first proposed in Llanwrtyd Wells “around a Pub table” (like many great ideas often are), and “the first competition was held in 1985 and it’s been running annually ever since”, Callum tells us. The photographer describes the day as a “quintessential British event, where people come together with an ever supportive crowd embracing the mud, the madness and the bog”.

For an image-maker the event is quite the dream: there is a prize for the best costume, (which sees people dress up as anything from a box of fish fingers to a dragon), and there are all kinds of characters – young and old – to capture. It’s the kind of setting where you want to take in everything at once – “the only approach is more run and gun”, Callum says, “just trying to capture as much of the action as possible.” Like many of his photo documentary adventures Callum centres a lot of his time around talking to the individuals he photographs at the event, finding out what brought them to the bog and allowing these insights to inform how exactly he wants to frame them in his photographs. This way “character and personality can shine through”, he says, even amongst the chaos of the day.

“Although bog snorkelling is designed for fun”, Callum shares, “the rules are somewhat strict.” When it comes the most popular events of the day – swimming the trench cut into the Waen Rhydd bog as fast as you possibly can – “participants are only allowed to swim in doggy paddle, with hands and arms remaining in the water at all times,” Callum says. Bad luck if you’ve been perfecting your breaststroke! All other swimming strokes are banned. There are stern invigilators on the scene to monitor each contestant’s swim, which Callum has quite hilariously captured with his images of people crawling out of muddy bogs. For anyone curious, the person to beat for the bog swim is Niel Rutter who set the record of one minute 12 seconds in 2023.

Being from the South Wales valleys himself, growing up in a small town is something that Callum is certain has informed his soft visual language and the work that he creates. His images from these unique events are full of a kind of warmth and nostalgia that only comes from fitting in like a local and growing up outside of big cities. Callum also likes to centre events like Bog Snorkelling championships because they’re the kind that shift the lens on to the people and stories that are often left untold.

Callum is keen to go back to the championships this year to capture the chaos, creativity and costumes once again. He thinks there’s lots more to see from this niche sports event: “It gets bigger every year”, he says, “people from all over the world travel to this small town in South Wales every year for Bog Snorkelling and it’s got a real sense of community around it. I think if I go back though,” the photographer ends, “I’ll have to take on the bog myself to see how challenging it is.”