Battle of the Queens - Aproz, Sunday 08 May 2005

Aproz, in the Canton of the Vallais, was the scene this weekend of the famous 'Combats des Reines' (Battle of the Queens). This competition sees the election of the Queen of the Cows for the whole of Switzerland. The cows are pitted against each other in direct face off's, with the loser being the cow who turns and flees, leaving the dominant cow as the winner. Like last year, the overall title winner was Saphir, who saw off 139 other contestants to be named 'La Reine des Reines' (Queen of Queens). 20'000 spectators lined the valley to watch this event live, while another 200'000 Swiss and Italian fans followed the battles on television.