In this centuries-old English pancake race, 'you just have to go flat out'

For centuries, women in one English town have run a pancake race to mark the day before the start of Lent

OLNEY, England -- Women in matching checkered aprons, headscarves and a rainbow of running shoes limbered up 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 signaling the Shrove Tuesday service and raced off with her skillet.

The tradition has been repeated over the centuries — not only in Olney but around England and even in the United States, where a Kansas town 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.