In this centuries-old English pancake race, ‘you just have to go flat out’
OLNEY, Feb 18: Women in matching checkered aprons, headscarves and a rainbow of running shoes limbered up last Tuesday as they prepared for the centuries-old pancake race in this English country town.
They rolled their shoulders in unison, raised up on their toes and did squats before stepping to the starting line — frying pans in hand.
At the word “Go” they sprinted through the streets, trying not to drop their pancakes as they roughly traced the path taken by a harried housewife in 1445, who legend has it heard the church bells signalling the Shrove Tuesday service and raced off with her skillet.
“It’s a horrible distance,” said Kaisa Larkas, 44, a mother of four who legged it past Eloise Kramer to capture the Olney title with a time of 63.37 seconds. “You just have to go flat out and then hope that you’re not gonna fall over. … But it’s good fun.”
The tradition has been repeated over the centuries — not only in Olney but across England and even in the United States, where the Kansas town of Liberal copied the idea and has been trying to outrun their friendly British rivals for 75 years.
The race is held the day before the start of Lent, the Christian period of repentance and sacrifice before Easter. Celebrated as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday in other parts of the world, the name Shrove Tuesday derives from the English word meaning to seek forgiveness or be granted absolution.
Runners must flip the pancake at the start and finish.
The 380-metre sprint itself may be a form of penance ahead of Lent. (AP)
