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India’s Rural Olympics: Run Over with Tractor, Lifting Bicycles with Mouth, Other Grueling and Bizarre Events [VIDEO]

Travelers Today       By    Amanda Woods

Updated: Feb 05, 2013 06:22 PM EST

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Rural Olympics
This participant in India's rural Olympics rides a bicycle with a flaming ring around his head shoulders -- one of the many grueling activities this three-day event offers.(Photo : Twitter)

If you want to compete in India's rural Olympics, there's one key requirement: you must have a high tolerance for pain.

The festival, according to The Daily Mail, is an international attraction because of its unusual sports categories. The games include being run over by farm machinery, bullock chariot racing, horseback acrobatics and other strenuous activities, The Daily Mail reported.

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Pain is expected and almost embraced in the games. Participants lie under tractors. They pull vehicles with their hair. They lift ploughs and bicycles with their mouths. They use their teeth to carry bricks and pull tractors. They perform stunts on motorbikes. Participants who are over 80 years old even run a race, according to The Daily Mail.

Not all of the events are excruciating or body-breaking, though. The Olympics also features a turban-tying competition and performance of the Bangra, the traditional dance of Punjab.

The bullock-cart race is the main attraction, according to The Daily Mail, with the winner receiving a cash prize.

The Rural Olympics, which began in 1933, runs for three days, celebrating India's rural farming life, The Daily Mail reported.

Check out some photos of this bizarre event at Demotix.com, and the video below.

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