Monday, August 09, 2010

Just Wrong - World Sauna Championship

It's hard to say who is stupider - the organizers of the World Sauna Championship, or the competitors. Contestants are shut in the sauna room; water is poured over the stove every 30 seconds; and the last one to stagger out of the room under his own power is the winner. . This year's competition turned deadly, with one contestant dead and another in critical-but-stable condition in the hospital. You can read the CNN report about it here. FWIW, this is not your ordinary sauna, which is heated to 60°-70°C. For this piece of competitive lunacy, the temperature is raised to +110°C. That's ten degrees above boiling water, for you non-chemists. . A typical winning time is somewhere around 3½-4 minutes. The two injured 2010 contestants were in the sauna for 6 minutes when tragedy struck. .
You can read the rules and the Wikipedia article on it here. Of note (although the Wiki article fails to mention it) is that the contestants sign a waiver beforehand absolving the organizers of all responsibility in case of physical harm, and agreeing not to bring litigation against them in any event. But I have a feeling that this year's fatality will trump that piece of paper.
. Oh yes, there is also a women's competition in this insanity. It's nice to know that stupidity is gender neutral.

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