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I find it highly suspicious that the reigning champion gets to drill the holes in the conkers. You can intentionally make some of them weaker by drilling closer to the edge or something.

I assume the conkers are provided by the organizers, and the participants must select their conker from the collection or given one at random. Prevents tampering I guess.

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I assume the conkers are provided by the organizers

Going around the conker trees in your area and finding the perfect conker is a huge part of the game. There is also a certain amount of pre-game 'modification' that are generally allowed, like soaking them in various solutions, or baking them in an oven.

Having to use a provided conker would be like showing up to the Tour de France and being assigned a bike by the organisers.

Indeed, but apparently this is the way it works. I suspect to prevent 'foul-play' - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Conker_Championships#WCC...

I stand corrected. Perhaps Tour de France should apply this rule as well to avoid foul play?

I thought it might be like formula 1 where having the right equipment is part of the challenge.

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