Maggots: a racing cert to raise funds

Forget maggot eating - Dave Hackney from the Holderness Inn at Patrington, Yorkshire, insists that maggot racing is the way ahead.

Hackney came across the sport when he was a boy at a working men's club in Halifax. Now he's built his own board in his own pub. He said: 'The board's about three-and-a-half feet long and sits atop the pool table. It has six lanes and sponsors down the outside as well as Hornby figures of paramedics on the sidelines in case things go wrong.'

Punters pay a 50p stake and the winning maggot is auctioned off at the end. 'We have about seven races including hurdles with match sticks and a Grand National at the end.'

Hackney uses a halogen light to make the maggots move forward and the winning critter can complete the course in around one minute.

'One of our locals - who is a maggot owner - always sits at the end of the course shouting 'come on, come to mummy'.'

Hackney and his wife, Andrea, have raised thousands of pounds for local charities thanks to the popular races.