IT'S a battle that the Duke of Wellington probably never envisaged when he popularised the first waterproof boots – but this weekend North Yorkshire will take on Somerset in a fierce welly wanging contest.

The village of Welbury, near Northallerton will be taking on Wellington in Somerset on Saturday (September 12) afternoon, to see who can hurl their boots the furthest.

The North Yorkshire heats will be staged in the grounds of the Duke of Wellington pub, watched over by an image of the pub’s namesake.

The first rounds kick off at 3pm, with contests for children and adults. Then Welbury will select their finest male and female throwers to take on Somerset, in a simultaneous contest linked by mobile phone.

Organiser, Mike O’Carroll, from Welbury, said they will overcome regional differences in welly-throwing for the final contest, by adopting the same rules.

“In Somerset they have slightly different rules from ours,” he explained.

“They are allowed a run-up and they prohibit complete body rotations where you spin round and round – partly because of safety reasons because the welly can go anywhere.

“We only allow throws from a standstill, because we don’t have sufficient space for a run-up. We also have something called the Cinderella rule – that the boot must fit the wearer, so big people throw big wellies and littler people and children throw smaller ones.

“But in the regional head-to-head we will keep to their rules, which is men must throw a size 7 and women must throw a size 5.”

Mr O’Carroll said other rules are universal – as boot adaptations such as adding aerofoils or strings are outlawed.

“People can throw their own wellies as long as they’re not souped-up things; we’re very sportsmanlike and honour is foremost,” he said.

People are allowed to try under-arm, over-arm or “round-arm” throws. Mr O’Carroll said some of the leading local competitors would be missing on the day, so he was hoping some new players would step up to the plate.

“We’ve had a couple of good throwers in the past, but they will be playing cricket on the day. Dave Willis and Jonathan Wheatley have been good in the past, but they’re also good bowlers and will be playing for East Harsley Cricket Club this Saturday.

“Our women have beaten the women from Somerset, but for the last couple of years our men have been beaten. I’m fearful we may get trounced but I’m hoping one or two of our throwers will come through.”

Anyone wanting to take part can turn up and enter for free.