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Posted by: Bradley McDonald

From the department of "NOW I've seen it all"...

On the eve of the Kentucky Derby, I bring you another great racing event:

World Championship Cockroach Racing

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It seems the folks in Australia are lacking in the entertainment department. I don't even know what to say about it, except "sick!" This article says it best:

Only in Australia would they celebrate their national holiday by racing cockroaches.

Yes, that's right I'm talking about those pooey brown, hairy legged, skin crawling, under the fridge indulgers and lights out kitchen partiers that infest much of the land Down Under.

On a day when most countries would be flag raising, parading the streets and celebrating their nationhood Australians head to the pub for some serious cockroach action.

A sport that has become a bit of a tradition.

At the Story Bridge Hotel in Brisbane they've been racing the insects every hot summery January 26 for the past 21 years. It all started in 1982 when two barflies began arguing that the roaches from his part of town were the fastest in Brisbane. They tested their alcohol-fuelled convictions in a parking garage, the bar crowd enjoyed it and thus the races were born.

Now described as "the greatest gathering of thoroughbred cockroaches in the known universe" the event has not come of age that much. There's a bit of sponsorship, TV cameras, microphones and live bands but much of the tradition has remained the same.