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OLNEY, England (AP) — Girls in matching checkered aprons, headscarves and a rainbow of trainers limbered up Tuesday as they ready for the centuries-old pancake race on this English nation city.
They rolled their shoulders in unison, raised up on their toes and did squats earlier than stepping to the beginning line — frying pans in hand.
On the phrase “Go” they sprinted by means of the streets, attempting to not drop their pancakes as they roughly traced the trail taken by a harried housewife in 1445, who legend has it heard the church bells signaling the Shrove Tuesday service and raced off together with her skillet.
“It’s a horrible distance,” stated Kaisa Larkas, 44, a mom of 4 who legged it previous Eloise Kramer to seize 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 custom has been repeated over the centuries — not solely in Olney however throughout England and even in the US, the place the Kansas city of Liberal copied the concept and has been attempting to outrun their pleasant British rivals for 75 years.
This yr the U.S. leg gained, with Pamela Bolivar, a 19-year-old school scholar and nursing assistant, crossing the road in a time of 63.03 seconds. It was one of many closest races ever.
The race is held the day earlier than the beginning of Lent, the Christian interval of repentance and sacrifice earlier than Easter. Celebrated as Mardi Gras or Fats Tuesday in different components of the world, the title Shrove Tuesday derives from the English phrase which means to hunt forgiveness or be granted absolution.
If a secret recipe behind profitable the race exists, it in all probability would name for a pinch of talent, a splash of athleticism and an additional scoop of caprice. The competitors falls someplace between the Nice British Bake Off and zany native pursuits such because the rough-and-tumble cheese wheel chase down Cooper’s Hill.
Runners should flip the pancake initially and end.
The 415-yard (380-meter) dash itself could also be a type of penance forward of Lent.
Two Kansas sisters who competed in Liberal since they had been kids traveled to Olney this yr to see the place all of it started.
“We’ve been talking about it for a long time,” stated Amy Thompson, who painted her nails with British and American flags and, in fact, pancakes. “We like those festival odd things and we decided to quit talking about it. It’s the 75th anniversary and … this would be the perfect time to come.”
Olney in Buckinghamshire, is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of London. Liberal is in southwest Kansas, simply north of the Oklahoma state line and about 200 miles (320 kilometers) west of Wichita.
Melley reported from London. Heather Hollingsworth reported from Mission, Kansas.
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