Sporting Activities You Can Enjoy Across Wakefield District

If you want to unleash your inner Joe Wicks, then there are plenty of opportunities to take up a sporting activity across Wakefield. Whether you are looking for ball games, individual disciplines, team sports or anything else, we have you covered when it comes to physical exertion. So grab your best lycra shorts, pull that towelling headband on tightly and start some light stretching as you read on.

Wakey Wheeled Cats Roller Derby

You might not have heard of roller derby yet, but it is said to be Europe’s fastest growing female sport. The best bit? We already have our very own team that you can join right here in Wakefield – Wakey Wheeled Cats.

Based at Lightwaves Leisure Centre, Wakey compete in bouts up and down the country as part of this exhilarating roller skate-based sport. It features two teams with five players each on track at any one time. One member of each team is the jammer, and they have to pass the other team’s blockers to score points in a series of jams throughout the game.

It’s fast, it’s exciting and the players often go under hilarious pun-based aliases. Wakey’s current squad features Betty Believe It and Whack Elle Welch, for example. The team recruits new members a few times a year, and you don’t even have to have skated before to join! Take a look at their website for details of the next recruitment drive and, in the meantime, take in a game to witness the sport in action and experience the welcoming community feel of roller derby.

You might also want to dedicate a bit of time to coming up with a delicious pun for your skater name. You can’t rush these things, you know.

Snozone at Xscape

When you think of top skiing destinations, you might imagine Val D’Isere or maybe Meribel. You might not immediately conjure up Castleford. But you would be missing out if you didn’t. Snozone at Xscape is the perfect destination for thrill seekers who love hurtling down mountains.

If that sounds like you, you don’t have to wait until the winter sports season comes round again and then jet off to faraway destinations. You can enjoy the experiences of skiing and snowboarding on real snow all year round in Yorkshire without having to spend hours waiting for a delayed plane in a cramped departure hall, eating a stale croissant.

There’s a snow school for children and adults with physical challenges, as well as activities that you can take part in whether you’re just starting out or you are an experienced black run specialist. You can even book a family sledging session, which is just like when you head out to the local hill on one of the few snowy days of the year, but without the risk of slamming into a concealed rock and stacking it headfirst into a drift. Everyone’s a winner.

Coal Carrying at Gawthorpe

How many cities in Yorkshire can claim they host an annual world championship? Not many. However, Wakefield does. More specifically, the village of Gawthorpe plays host to the World Coal Carrying Championships on Easter Monday every year, in which runners carry coal sacks over a distance of 1.1km.

There are races for men, women and children, with competitors raising hundreds of pounds for a range of charities. Huge crowds gather, and the atmosphere is electric as they cheer on the competitors who grapple with large sacks of coal (50kg for the men, 20kg for the women) from the Royal Oak to the Maypole Green.

What better (and more Yorkshire) way of getting fit than lugging coal? Sign up for the next event and maybe you just might take the crown this time.