World conkers champion forced to deny ‘fix’ as it emerges father was competition judge

Fee Aylmore won the women’s World Conker Championship in Northamptonshire on Sunday

Fee Aylmore (left) won the women’s World Conker Championship in Northamptonshire on Sunday (PA)

The World Conker Championships (WCC) organisers have denied allegations of wrongdoing after it emerged that the women’s world champion was the daughter of one of the judges.

Fee Aylmore secured victory in the women’s event in Southwick, Northamptonshire on Sunday at the 51st edition of the event, with more than 5,000 spectators attending.

Canada’s Randy Topolnitsky took the title in the men’s competition.

Aylmore ended a 31-year wait for the crown, but the WCC was forced to deny any accusations of bias due to her familial link to one of the judges.

The 49-year-old is the daughter of David Jakins, the official starter of the event, but the organising body insisted that her win was achieved “fair and square”.

Poking fun at the recent allegations of cheating by top chess player Hans Niemann, a WCC statement said: “Fee was the winner fair and square. We’re not chess - no one’s had any vibrating sensors inserted into their body to win our championships that we are aware of.”

Aylmore added: “I won thanks to practice, luck and pulling the right conkers out of the bag. And anyone who thinks it’s a fix is welcome to try their luck in next year’s championships.”

The event has raised more than £420,000 for charity since the inaugural edition in 1965, and returned last year after the coronavirus pandemic.

Played using the seeds of the horse chestnut tree, conkers is a game that sees two players compete to smash the other’s conker by striking it with their own on a piece of lace.

Competition rules see conkers and laces provided by volunteers and drawn blind from a bag, and cannot be tampered with or reused.

“It took me 31 years of playing but eventually I won this year and I am totally thrilled,” Aylmore, a school nurse, told the BBC.

“[My dad] is the chap who officially starts the championships off. Finally, all his efforts of teaching me how to play paid off.”

Event chairman James Packer, from Coalville in Leicestershire, added: “The women’s champion has been trying to win it for over 30 years - she’s finally managed to achieve that today.

“The men’s champion is from Calgary, Canada - it’s one of the few times the trophy has been taken abroad. It’s been a very friendly, fun, family afternoon.”