Olney Pancake Race
he 4th March 2013 was the T67th running of the Olney Pancake Race since WWII and the 65th running of the International Race against
Liberal in Kansas . The day started cold but fine and we were blessed with a pleasant dry day throughout . The numerous Children's races went without hitch apart from a few pride bruising tumbles and the stage was set for Devon Byrne to go for the hat trick of consecutive wins. Devon duly obliged with another record breaking time of 55.6 seconds leaving everyone else in her wake. In accordance with the rules she now has to retire so we are looking for some replacements ; all you have to do is run 415 yards in under 60 seconds so get training now! During the day Lesley Waters , the celebrity chef, was in the marquee giving some cooking demonstrations and then after the Shriving Service she hosted a highly entertaining 'cook off' between Jon Adriaenssens , chef and proprietor and Brendan Flynn, the other chef, from the Bell & Bear at Emberton. Our thanks to all for the entertainment.
In the evening we had the traditional link up with Liberal to learn that their winner had taken 63 seconds so Olney had won the International Race for the 29th time by over 5 seconds. We still trail Liberal by 6 wins (1 non-result in 1980) so we need to ensure that we extend this current winning streak. It was good to see Tony and Viv Evans in Liberal having such a great time representing Olney.
In the evening with Liberal we were delighted to be joined by a surprise guest , Mrs Florence Mynard , who as Florence Callow won the first International Race in 1950. For those that were up early that day, ITV Daybreak programme showed footage of that 1950 race showing Florence winning and receiving the traditional kiss from the Verger.
Planning has already started for the Olney Pancake Race 2015 ('OPR15') which falls in Half Term on the 17th February so we are expecting an even busier year. Make sure to book the date in your diary now.
The Pancake Race Committee are grateful for everyone who made 2014 such a successful year including those who bought one of the 2795 raffle tickets sold.
The winners of the raffle were as follows: 1st prize George Wells, 2nd Anne Michaels, 3rd Julie Wilkins, 4th Angela Harrell, 5th Sandra Mitchell, 6th Kevin Lever, 7th David Harding, 8th Maria Tennant, 9th Chris Wilks, 10th Anne Michaels, 11th Michael Bracey and 12th Pat Andrews .
48 Phonebox Magazine