LONDON – They're so passionate about their gravy in Lancashire that they don't just have it with their chips and their roast dinners; once a year they get together and wrestle in a big, greasy pool of the stuff.

The competition, which took place Monday and is now in its eighth year, involves strangely-dressed contestants battling it out for the coveted title of World Gravy Wrestling Champion. It's a much-anticipated event with a prize that's so sought after it occasionally leads to injuries.

"Two of them ended up in casualty one year, one dressed as a nun, the other as a goblin," gravy-maker Andy Holt told the Guardian. "They turned up at reception covered in gravy. The receptionist took one look at them and mistook them for perverts, told them: 'We don’t want your sort here.' Luckily the Rose’n’Bowl landlord’s sister is a nurse and she was able to persuade the hospital they weren’t getting embroiled in some sort of perversion."