The History of Pancake Racing in Britain

Every Shrove Tuesday, in towns across Britain, people pick up frying pans and run. The pancake must stay in the pan — unbroken — for the finish to count. The tradition is at least 570 years old.

Olney, 1445

The most famous pancake race in Britain takes place in Olney, Buckinghamshire. The course is 415 yards through the market town, from the market square to the parish church of St Peter and St Paul. Participants must be women who have lived in the parish for at least three months. They run wearing a headscarf and apron, and must flip the pancake at the start line and again at the finish.

The race has been run almost every year since 1445, making it one of the oldest continuous annual events in the world. The origin story is a legend: a woman heard the Shriving Bell ringing while she was making pancakes and ran to church with the frying pan still in her hand. Whether true or not, the story stuck, and the race stuck with it.

The Liberal, Kansas connection

Since 1950, Olney has had a transatlantic counterpart. The city of Liberal, Kansas runs a parallel race of the same distance on the same day, in friendly competition with Olney. A phone call between the two towns determines the overall winner each year. The exchange was initiated by the then-Mayor of Liberal after he read a news report about Olney's race — an unlikely piece of international diplomacy that has outlasted most of its contemporaries.

The Great Spitalfields Pancake Race, London

Held near Bishopsgate in the City of London, the Spitalfields race is a more recent tradition — organised since the early 1990s. Teams of four race in relay, each carrying a frying pan and pancake across a short course. The event raises money for the London Air Ambulance and typically involves corporate teams, local schools, and volunteers in increasingly elaborate costumes. It is the more theatrical version of the tradition.

The Parliamentary Pancake Race

Members of Parliament, Lords, and journalists from the Parliamentary Press Gallery race across Westminster Bridge on Shrove Tuesday in an event organised by Rehab, the disability charity. It has taken place since 1998. The event is a reliable source of photographs of politicians looking undignified, which is probably why it continues to receive coverage.

Why the tradition survived

Pancake racing is not an efficient sport. It is not particularly spectacular to watch. It survives because it is a recognisable, repeatable, communal ritual — one that requires no religious conviction to participate in, costs almost nothing to organise, and reliably produces images of otherwise serious adults running through town centres holding frying pans.

In a country that is often suspicious of organised enthusiasm, pancake racing is an acceptable form of collective silliness. The fact that it has been acceptable for the best part of six centuries suggests it is filling a need that more dignified traditions cannot quite reach.