Pancake-racing
By Anna Melville-James, TravelMail
Last updated at 17:19 02 August 2002
Winner with pancake
If you fancy yourself a dab hand with a skillet or pan then head on down to Olney in Buckinghamshire on Shrove Tuesday for the annual pancake race that has been held there since the 15th Century.
Legend has it that the tradition of pancake racing started when one of the local women, so engrossed in cooking her Shrove Tuesday pancakes, found herself late for church and decided to run all the way there with apron on and skillet in hand.
Over the years her neighbours followed her bizarre lead, setting up a tradition whereby the first to get to the church steps would get a kiss from the verger or bell-ringer.
In 1950 the first international pancake race was instigated when an official from the town of Liberal in Kansas contacted the vicar of Olney after seeing pictures of the extraordinary race in a magazine.
The official, one T J Leete, challenged the housewives of Olney to race the housewives of Liberal and began the first transatlantic race - a tradition that continues today (so far the score stands at Olney 24, Liberal 26 races. Come on Olney!).
Each year the women of both towns race through their respective streets over a 450 yard distance flipping their batter - in Olney's the race starts in Market Square and ends at the Church of St Peter and St Paul.
The field has been restricted from its original hundreds to just the top 30 pancakes runners in each town - considered fit enough to run the gruelling race, and all wear the traditional costume - a skirt, apron and lace headscarf - to compete.
Extensive training goes into the race preparation. The long-suffering spouses of the racers are said to consume around 5,000 pre-race training pancakes between them before the day.
www.olney.co.uk/pancake99/gallery/pancake99.htm
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