Swimming got to be up there, in the cardio fitness dept, skill just comes from practice.

t®ibal©hief – he did say in terms of skill as well. I was merely observing that not all of these sports listed require nearly as much skill as windsurfing for example.

The skill in shooting in Biathlon is kind of debatable because once you've learned to shoot, surely it comes down to having the fitness not to be a jibbering wreck when it comes to steadying your aim…

If we leave fitness aside then I reckon golf and snooker need the highest skill levels

any sport you dont regularly take part in ….

i might be able to do a 24 hour race but i tried a multi sport event (iroc) mtb , orienteering and fell running

come monday morning i couldnt physically get into the swimming pool for a recovery swim.

yet 3 days after a 24 hour race i was about to put in a top 3 result in a duathlon

Rowing is over too quickly. It has to be cycling in some form.

Stage racing at the TdF level in the mountains maybe because they do it the next day again, and then again, etc.

24 solo mtb maybe?

Croc Trophy in NQ – mtb multi day stage race in very rough conditions.

Its hard to call, as all sports have different levels of different types of fitness, but xc skiing / biathlon, road biking, boxing would all be up there. I've done a bit of boxing and how they do 12 rounds is beyond me.

Depends how you define tough really doesn't it – I both agree and disagree depending on the exact definition.

Windsurfing in a gale and 6ft waves – you last about half an hour and are knackered for days.

Or boxing/karate in a match. 2 minutes and you're maxed out.

I was thinking parcour or whatever its called, very close to gymnastics in terms of skills, longer periods of power endurance and the high risk of injury if it goes wrong.

Controversial maybe but F1 drivers are supposed to be up there in terms of fitness.

Pro surfers have been measured as the fittest blokes in the world, I'm trying to find the article that covered this. If anyone has ever tried surfing you'll know how tough it is once waves get over about 5 ft..

Interesting? http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills?sort=total_rank#grid

I see no one has mentioned shooting then…

Clay pigeon shooting needs a lot of skill, as does F class rifle shooting, as does pistol shooting, both air and .22 (and a surprising amount of muscle development and fitness).

I think the first response was shooting. With a bit of skiing mixed in.

It's not called small bore for nothing.

Gotta be mountain stages in tdf there somwhere,and boxing..

Surely Ironman has to be up there as it is longer than most mentioned here and includes different disciplines?

Deca Ironman: http://www.therunningfront.com/newton-running-athletes/deca-ironman/

another vote here for surfing.

the required learning curve is almost vertical, and it's physically tough too.

Offroad motorcycling is pretty high up there, and also bloody dangerous.

The original Paris Dakar – all on 'unseen' tracks. And watch Auriol, both ankles broken and still had to ride back a few hundred k's to the trucks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dgrw5oJjcA&feature=related

Hard as in what then cardio workout etc?

For cycling it's got to be crit racing.

Start. Sprint to corner, sprint, 200yds later corner, sprint, 200yds later corner, sprint etc… repeat for 1-1.5hrs. Best cardio workout in cycling.

The skill. Cycling is bar to bar, shoulder to shoulder and scraping pedals you are cornering so hard (if have a couple of Look Deltas with ground down left pedals) that you think you'll never get round.

Boxing gets my vote

parenting a group of under 4's 😉

Biathlon/XC skiing is recognised as the physically most demanding because of the use of all muscle groups (greater cardiac load when upper body is used as well) and because they are supporting their own bodyweight. Biking and rowing at least support the athletes weight, so are not viewed as being as tough, but putting yourself through hell for 6 mins on a rowing lake or 6 hours on a mountain stage are certainly not what most of us could ever get near to doing well.

Ironman would be an interesting case for fitness – there are some very fit triathletes but maybe the duration of an Ironman means it's not viewed as being as physically intense as the sports mentioned above…. I can't work that one out at all.

Total Table Tennis

Developed in an attic games room at a holiday home we used for a stag weekend. The sloping attic roof meant any high bounce would ping off at 90 degrees, so like court tennis we decided that all the surfaces in the room we're playable, even the stairs to the hall below so long as you could get to the ball in three bounces

Eating pies is a sport isn't it?

biathlon must be a very strong contender, the fitness levels prob comparable to road racing etc plus you then have to hold a rifle steady and hit a target! crazee

polar bear unicycle death match marathon wrestling

tiddly winks is bloody lethal hardest sport I ever have done.

Big wave surfing. Physically, mentally and add into the equation the playing field is trying to drown you…

Don't discount surfing.

Requires alot of upper body strength and stamina to paddle out to the waves, and just balancing on the board to do that isn't as easy as it looks.

what's the hardest pastime?

trying to please the wife 🙄

putting yourself through hell for 6 mins on a rowing lake or 6 hours on a mountain stage are certainly not what most of us could ever get near to doing well.

It can be pure pleasure if you in the lead boat looking at 5 other crews floundering 😆 The hellish part is training through winter to be able to do that come summer!

The most fatigued I have ever been is boxing.
Climbing (badly) is tough on a multi-pitch.

But my vote:
XC skiing/biathlon.

speaking as somebody who spent 5 years of his life doing very little except for rowing at a fairly high level, I'd never class it as one of the hardest sports from a skill/technical perspective. Sure, the technique is critically important, but it's really not that difficult to learn. A lot of people who end up rowing at university or afterwards are those who were never sufficiently co-ordinated to be any good at any other sports: that should tell you something about the skill/natural ability level necessary. I loved it, though.

I reckon you need to include a "danger" coefficient as well. getting tired when you push yourself is one thing: risking serious injury or worse as you push the limits is quite another. so for me, no quasi-safe sport can possibly be the hardest.

therefore, my vote goes for the mountain stages in the TdF or back-country snowkiting (fly up, ride down). though DH racing isn't far behind. honourable mentions for alpine snowboarding (up to 100mph down a mountain with burning thighs and only one edge), boxing and football – everybody wants to play, so think how good you have to be to succeed – as well.

need to include a "danger" coefficient as well

Again, mountaineering.
I would say that ice climbing and conquering peaks like everest especially without oxygen is about as hard as it gets physically, emotionally, courage and skill wise. I cannot see surfing comparing; IMHO of course.

bodyboarding.especially on the north coast.i cant hack it,i cant get out in 6ft+,the board is nowhere near as bouyant as a surfboard and even if i do get out,each pummeling in water thats around 4c makes yer eyes pop out yer head.to be supple and fit enough to pull yourself through the surf on a piece of sponge in water that cold, and to repeat it when it takes so long to get out on something thats so crap to paddle on.. takes something else.

wish i kept at it after the first time i tried it in the late 80s but hey ho.still great fun getting hammered to hell though. especially alone with nobody else around.adds to the fear.

Boxing, footie, surfing, cycling……there are a lot of sports that you can "rest" whilst still in competition, how about balls to the wall for longer than 10-15 minutes! Fell running gets my vote 😉

a hard looking sport – no time for rest whatsoever. well,you could have a rest.. but then you die.

http://magicseaweed.com/photoLab/viewPhoto.php?photoId=1818

I'd say Extreme Enduro's like Erzberg and Hells Gate have got to be up there with the toughest sports.
Riding an enduro bike over stuff that would be considered difficult on a trials bike is very physical and demands a huge amount of skill and balls.

How many other events are there out there where you only get a few finishers out of an entry of hundreds. Even some top world championship riders aren't tough enough to finish.

Erzburg

Hells Gate