The US women's Concours wins the world title, as men's champ Metal Nut faces cheating allegations

The men's winner of the World Conquer Championship – a two-person sport with an object for crushing a conker or horse's chestnut – was accused of using a metal chestnut to secure a – the 2024 edition of a clever English competition now in dispute. Long elusive title.

Sunday's grand final capped a remarkable day at the event hosted by the Shuckburgh Arms, a country pub in the village of Southwick in Northamptonshire, central England.

“This year we had 256 contestants and nearly 2,000 visitors enjoyed the charity event raising funds for the visually impaired,” Neil Horton, owner of the nearly 385-year-old pub, told NPR.

What are conkers?

“Conkers is an ancient and traditional fall game in Great Britain; Horton played using the large (1-2″) seeds of the chestnut tree, known as conkers,” Horton told NPR via email.

“The game is played by two players, each threading a conker along a length of string or leather thong,” he says, who hit each other's conkers until a break occurs.

Larger and heavier nuts are preferred. A few years ago, a regional drought left organizers scrambling to find 3,000 conkers fit for competition. The annual Falls Championship often inspires competitors and spectators to dress up in costumes ranging from Arthurian characters to Yoda.

American women win the Concours world

The 2024 overall world title was won by Kelsey Banschbach, 34, originally from Indianapolis. Banschbach conkers admits to taking an unlikely path to fame: he started playing the game only two years ago after moving to England for work. Now he has made history as the first American concours champion.

“I've never won anything like this before, and I'm surprised I did it,” he said in a press release announcing the results. “I've never really played Conquer before, and it's just a blast!”

As a reward, he earned “a trophy, a tea towel and a coaster,” according to the BBC.

Banschbach defeated David Jakins, who won the men's tournament for the first time in more than 4 decades of trying.

“It means a lot to me,” Jakins said. “I'm 82 years old, and my legs haven't been the same, so it's nice to stand there and be the men's world champion.”

Conflict erupted

Jakins is well known in the championship, where he is known as “King Conqueror”. In a tradition the championship began in the 1960s, the titleholder sits on a throne and wears a black bowler and robe festooned with concours.

As he served in that official capacity, Jakins also competed in the championship — an overlap that helped fuel the cheating allegations.

said Alastair Johnson-Ferguson, who lost to Jakins in the final The Daily Telegraph That he had his Conqueror “disintegrated at a blow, and it did not happen.”

After winning his title, a metal Conqueror was found in Jakins' pocket. But he denied using it to cheat, saying he only carried it as a humorous prop.

“To him I'm a comedy-value metal conker he'd call a show-off to the kids,” said Horton, the pub's landlord. “We are sure it was not used, but the investigation is ongoing.”

Others said it was suspicious that Jokins, who helped ensure tournament conkers were properly prepared, broke several opponents' nuts with a single blow. Some wondered if Jackins could somehow identify the strings attached to the hardest conkers — another charge he denied.

Organizers are reviewing the evidence

It would be unprecedented for a competitor to use Metal Conquer in a tournament.

“This has never happened before,” Horton said.

World Conquer Championship spokesman St John Birkett told Sky News that while investigating the matter, anyone hoping to cheat would have to fool four judges when the contestants faced each other. Players also draw their Conquers randomly from a bag before each round.

“The umpires stood incredibly close and measured the length of the Regulation 8″ lace,” Horton said. “So any foul play would have been called out immediately.”

That didn't sway skeptics like onlooker David Glue, 78 — who probably supplied the quote of the day.

“The whole thing is nuts,” he said The Daily Telegraph. “This stinks, and needs to be properly investigated to save our sport from scandal.”

Should the investigation be completed by the end of this week, Horton said, organizers want to inspect the conkers that Jokins gave away as souvenirs after using them. He also said that Jakins was strongly interested in fair play, adding, “Any other way is not just cricket!”

If you want to try playing conker at home, this charming video describes the threading process (tip: it helps to use fresh conker that hasn't completely dried out).