Tough Mudder and Punk Padel prove there's a sports market for the masses

I am happy to go down any rabbit hole, or country lane, in search of innovation in sport. Driving back from a trail race the other day, I passed a small sign tucked on a grassy verge in deepest Sussex.

“Punk Padel”, it seemed to whisper rather than shout, as if conscious it was out of its usual milieu. Turns out I was being directed to one of the venues of a business “using barns in beautiful locations to create a secret padel paradise”.

Swipe the surface of the Punk Padel website and you’ll find its courts are unmanned. Their lights turn on and off automatically to mark the start and end of a session in which you are encouraged to “Laugh/Cry/Scream – it doesn’t matter…” This, it declares, is “NOT a normal sports

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