and manhood intact. Mellor had hoped to organise an annual national competition held in his home town of Barnsley, and offered a prize of £100 to anyone who could beat him. Frank Bartlett, a retired headmaster, and Christine Farnsworth, broke Mellor's record in 2010. The pair managed five hours and thirty minutes, raising £1,000 for the Whittington Community First Responders. Reception Ferret-legging has existed for centuries, but the sport made a brief resurgence in popularity during the 1970s. According to a 2005 report published in the English Northern Echo newspaper, whether due to a "lack of brave contestants or complaining wives", ferret-legging is now "a dying sport" that is being replaced by ferret racing, in which the animals race through a plastic pipe. Although the sport is now uncommon, annual competitions were held at the Richmond Highland Games & Celtic Festival in Richmond, Virginia from 2003 through 2009. In 2007 the Manitoba Ferret Association held a ferret-legging competition in St. Vital Park, Winnipeg, to raise money in support of the organization's shelter for homeless ferrets. Marlene Blackburn, who works with the Ferret Rescue League to ensure that no ferrets are harmed in the sport, claims that during the years the competitions have been held in Richmond no contestant has ever been bitten, although some may get a few scratches. According to Kelly Yager of the Manitoba Ferret Association, the animals actually like small, confined spaces. Jay Lugar, spokesman for the Richmond Highland Games & Celtic Festival, said ferrets are "generally very harmless, fun-loving creatures." Reg Mellor, however, commented that at their very worst, they can be "cannibals, things that live only to kill, that'll eat your eyes out to get at your brain". Christopher Borrelli of The Blade describes ferret-legging as a "remarkable" sport in which you get "more agony of defeat than thrill of victory," and Louis Mahoney of the Richmond Times-Dispatch said it is "sure to bring a laugh." Cracked listed it as the fifth "most baffling" sport in the world. The Atlanta Journal's Scott Bernarde commented that anyone who has tried ferret-legging "will agree that falling off a mountain isn't all that bad." American sportswriter Rick Reilly of ESPN tried ferret-legging as part of his quest to find "the world's dumbest sport" for a book published in 2010. Mellor made a brief appearance in the 1976 television documentary presented by actor and wrestler Brian Glover entitled It's