The International Grave Digging Championship
go the distance: to continue doing something until it is finished, even if it is hard
Forget football or tennis. Grave digging has its own World Cup. The annual International Grave Digging Championship took place again in Hungary this September.
Teams from different countries competed for the title. Each team of two had to dig a grave two meters long, 80 centimeters wide, and 1.6 meters deep. When finished, they had to shovel back about 2.5 tons of dirt and shape a perfect-looking burial mound. Judges scored them on speed, neatness, and accuracy.
The Hungarian team of László Kiss and Robert Nagy won first prize. They finished in just one hour and 33 minutes. Organizers explained that the winners did not train specially for the contest. Their daily work gave them the routine to go the distance and finish ahead of every other team.
The championship was created to honor the hard work of gravediggers and attract young people to the profession.
Sample sentences
She was exhausted by the final lap, but she pushed herself to go the distance and win the race.
Many small cafés close quickly, but this one has gone the distance and stayed open for twenty years.
Their marriage has gone the distance, lasting happily for more than 50 years.
Origin
This expression comes from the sport of boxing. A match has a set number of rounds, and if neither fighter is knocked out, they must fight until the end. Over time, it has come to mean finishing any difficult challenge without quitting.
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