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West Oxfordshire is rightly famed for its sausages. Rivalry is fierce between local charcutiers for the annual Black Bourton Sausage Championship, held not far from Clanfield. Over the past 6 years the title has been won alternately by Padraig Odd, the butcher from Faringdon, and Thomas Mustard from Bampton. Each commands a sizeable local following, vital for the final stages of judging.

The Black Bourton Sausage Championship trophy (artist's impression)

Although competition between food producers is nothing unusual, the method by which the winner of the Black Bourton aware is decided is truly unique. The winner of the prize is decided in a series of wrestling bouts.

The day starts in Haystacks Field on the edge of Black Bourton at 7.30am. Each sausage maker arrives with a refrigerated van full of sausages and a charabanc of prizefighters who will have been on strict non-meat diets for the previous week. Breakfast begins at 8.30 and each wrestler is fed a pound of his butcher's sausages. At 10am the fighting begins. A series of bouts gradually whittles the field down, and between each round a further meal of sausages is served to the grapplers.

Ultimately the sausage maker whose wrestlers prevail will be awarded the coveted trophy. Secondary awards are also dispensed for style and flatulence.

This year's contest, held on the last Saturday in July, was won by a newcomer. The fame of the competition has been spreading and recently came to the attention of Abe Froman, the Sausage King of Chicago. To meet the residency requirements Froman recently relocated to Clanfield. He has been taken into the bosom of the local community who have been keen for some time to relive their former glories in the contest and break the stranglehold of Faringdon and Bampton. He found many willing wrestlers ready to sign up for the big day.

The Championship is decided in a somewhat unorthodox way

On the day his team prevailed, but before the dust died down from the final bout a murmur of discontent began to spread around the field. The losing teams of Faringdon and Bampton, clearly disappointed by the result, claimed that the Clanfield sausages must have contained artificial stimulants. The defeated fighters told of glazed expressions and automaton-like power of Froman's men. Froman denied the claims and said that the dedication of his team was down simply to hard training and the warm glow of contentment promted by the consumption of quality sausages.

The clamour died down. The trophy was presented, but the rumblings of discontent did not go away altogether. Froman asserted that the case against him was unfounded, but then last friday a startling discovery was made - toads.

Oxfordshire's favourite food

Dustmen collecting from the bins at Froman's kitchens noticed the remains of a number of toads in one of them. The speculation was rekindled. Toads are widely known in the sausage world to produce short-term benefits to the eater's strength. They were once a common additive to pork or beef sausages. However, in the early twentieth century people began to connect the eating of toad-enriched sausages with a number of health compaints. Research was done proving the links and toads were banned. The practice is now a thing of the past, remembered only in the name of a popular sausage-based dish.

Froman still maintainis his innocence. His defence revolves around the fact that the rules of the Black Bourton Sausage Championship were drawn up over 200 years before the toad ban was introduced. The rules have not changed since their first draft.

The case continues.