A slippery lympics with a worm-shaped twist (From The Oxford Times)

A slippery lympics with a worm-shaped twist

11:10am Saturday 9th June 2012 in News

The Olympics is coming to Oxford this month, but with a worm-shaped twist.

The city’s first ever Worm Charming Olympics, organised by Science Oxford, will take place on Sunday, June 24.

About 100 people are expected to take part in the contest in which competitors vie to attract the most worms to the surface.

Participants will use vibrations and music to entice hundreds of earthworms in Oxford’s South Park.

Teams of two are allocated a two-metre by two-metre plot and have to lure as many worms as they can in 10 minutes.

There will be prizes for the team that attracts the most worms and another for the longest worm.

Science Oxford’s Emma Clare, pictured above with colleague Peter Leigh, said: “They can use whatever techniques they choose, but they are not allowed to dig and they are not allowed to use water.

“Some people have played music to the worms, some jump up and down.”

The event is part of Science Oxford’s BioBlitz weekend on June 23 and 24 – an ambitious scheme to record every single living species in St Clement’s in 24 hours.

Heats will start at 10am, 10.30am, 11am and 11.30am.

To find out more or to register visit scienceoxfordlive.com/bioblitz or call 01865 810000.

The world record, of 567 worms in 30 minutes, was set there in 2009.