The United States of America is doing more than performing well at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. The country is also mastering flapjack flipping.
Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday. It is a religious day of tradition preceding Ash Wednesday, which is the start of the fasting and prayer season of Lent that leads up to Easter.
Shrove Tuesday is commonly known as Fat Tuesday, which is the last day of celebrations such as New Orleans’ Mardi Gras.
On this day, people eat foods rich in sugar, fat and eggs as a last meal prior to the fasting season. Such foods that are popular are pancakes.
The English town of Olney honors the day with a pancake race. The race works by participants, only women in the official International Pancake Day Race, running 415 yards on a course while flipping pancakes.
The fastest time wins.
Of course, Olney isn’t the only town to be in on this act. Liberal, Kan., also competes.
KAKE.com reported Liberal has been involved in the race since 1950. The tradition reportedly originated in England in 1444.
In Olney, Jane Hughes won with a time of 1 minute, 7 seconds.
USA bettered their foes by a few seconds. Cheri Beavis checked in with a time of 1 minute, 3 seconds.
According to KWCH.com, “Liberal leads the annual international competition 35-25.”
That’s American dominance! Take that, England!
