Crab racing is as sporty as Fiji gets

BEFORE jetting in to the US I spent ten days in Fiji - and even on a tropical island, there's some kind of sport to bet on!

Away from the main island of Vita Levu I took a boat out to the island of Mana which is about 10 miles away from the capital, Nadi. On Mana its a slow pace of life, and the only real sports are windsurfing and kayaking - although I did take part in the island's 82nd International Crab Race.

This was a race with a difference - there were ten crabs taking part and each was auditioned before the race. This audition comprised of placing them in the centre of a circle and seeing how fast it would take them to scarper to the outer rim of that circle. The winning crab would be the first to take part.

Rather than bet on each crab, each crab was auctioned off based on how fast it seemed in the audition and to tell each crab apart they were given there own names and nationalities.We had the controversial Marion Jones crab from the USA, Nelson Mandela from South Africa and Jackie Chan from China - not to mention the Maradona crab which apparently hails from Brazil!Despite seeing other crabs that were faster and more nimble, I bid $12 Fijian Dollars (£4) for the Jonny Wilkinson crab - after all I was the only English person there so had to spend my cash on a slice of my own country.With my Jonny crab in the centre of the circle under an ice cream tub with the other nine crabs I was hopeful he would hurtle out towards that rim - and enable me to scoop the $90 Fijian Dollar (£30) first prize.

Sadly for me, Jonny had a nightmare - Nelson Mandela defied age to race home over the rim - and scooped the owner a return of nine times on their original stake. As for my investment in Jonny - well it just reinforces my view that I can stand rugby!