SCOTLAND’S reputation as a land of heavy drinkers suffered a blow at the world ‘beer mile’ championships after three national athletes were disqualified for not finishing their beers.
The Beer Mile World Classic, which took place in London on Sunday, challenged competitors to sink four beers whilst running a mile-long course.
But in a shock result which deprived Scots of their usual south-of-the-border reputation as hard drinkers – three of the five runners were unable to polish off the four 350ml beverages.
According to the strict rules of the competition they were disqualified from the race.
Now the Scots have said their performance might have been better had their beverage of choice, Tennents, been available rather than London-favourite Brooklyn Lager.
James Dunn, 21, a student from Edinburgh was one of the athletes disqualified.
He said: “There was too much left over foam in our beers, it was over by like 0.3 of a ounce.
“The rules were quite annoying because we had to go out to find bottles of 350ml size to conform to them.
“We drank something called Brooklyn lager – I’ve never tasted the stuff before in my life, so yes, a Tennents would have been better.
“They let the Swedes off with smaller beers as well which definitely contributed to us not doing as well as we probably could have done.”
Following completion of the race, the event’s organisers took to Twitter to confirm that several disqualifications had taken place.
They wrote: “Multiple contestants disqualified due to too much leftover beer. Such a waste…”
As rumours of the disqualifications spread across social media, Twitter users were quick to post their disbelief, and theories as to why the Scots performed so badly.
One user wrote: “I find that very hard to believe- unless they’d got a few cheeky whiskies in before the race.”
Another said: “You build up a reputation over 400 years and ruin it all in five minutes.”
A spokeswoman for the Beer Mile World Classic said: ” Athletes are allowed to leave a total of four ounces of excess liquid between their four bottles – from foam that sticks to the neck and settles after they chug.
“If there is more than that, the runner is disqualified to prevent giving advantage to people that don’t drink their entire beer.
“Scott Stirling, the Scottish team captain, had 12 ounces of beer left in his bottle at the end of the race.
“To his credit, he did drink it from the measuring cup after he was disqualified. Waste not, want not.”
The Beer Mile World Classic sees competitors run four laps of a 400m athletics track, with a drink consumed before each lap.
Competitors are given a one lap penalty if they throw up.
Corey Bellemore, of Canada, won the Elite Men’s competition with a new beer mile world record time of 4:34:35.
Two Scots did complete the race, with Tyler Deniston coming in 13th with 5.47, and Johnny Currie in 22nd with 8.21.
