Check out these fab images of the 2024 World Conker championships near Oundle

Crowds descended en-masse to the countryside around Oundle over the weekend to witness one of our region’s most quintessential English events take place.

The annual World Conker Championships – which is now in its The 57th year – was held amid pleasant sunshine at the Shuckburgh Arms pub in the scenic Northants village of Southwick on Sunday, October 13.

Around 2,000 spectators turned out to see 256 competitors from 10 countries do battle for the honour of calling themselves World Conker Champ.

A hundred young people also took their opportunity to see who could take top honours in the junior (7-11s) and intermediate (11-16s) categories.

After a full day of fierce yet good-natured competition, Kelci Banschbach from the USA, and local man David Jakins – better known as ‘King Conker’ – were crowned male and female champs.

And then, following a tense grand final, it was Kelci who took the overall accolade of World Conker Champion.

“I’ve never won anything like this before, and am amazed I have done this,” said Kelci, adding: “I’ve not really played conkers before, and this is just a surprise!”

It was a special moment too for David Jakins, a.k.a. King Conker, as he has been entering the competition for over forty years – although this is the first time he has won. “This means so much to me,” he said. “I’m 82, and my legs aren’t what they were, so to stand up there and become Men’s World Champion is wonderful.”

In other competitions, the Junior World Champion was won by Sebastian Sheffield from Northamptonshire, who defeated Nicoda Hutchinson from Cambridgeshire in the final. The intermediate World Championship was shared between Enija Butane from Leicestershire and Clara Axmacher from Huntingdon, who couldn’t be separated.

The Team World Champions were The Skuumkoppers, who had travelled over specially from The Netherlands.

Chairman Jim Packer described the event as a “wonderful day in which the sun shone and the crowds came out.”

“To have a winner from the USA and team champions from the Netherlands shows how truly international we are,” he said, “[and] King Conker becoming Men’s World Champion at the age of 82 is a great story.”

Check out our splendid gallery to see more of this wonderful occasion.