The Bright Side: Dutch canal leaping remains a summer competition for over 200 years

Summer is here, which also means it’s “fierljeppen” season in the Netherlands – a unique sport that is practiced from the Dutch provinces of Friesland to Utrecht, in which competitors sprint into the air with a 12-meter pole and try to land on the other side of the canal without falling into the water.The earliest known competitions date back to around 1767.