So what are the Pancake Races?
Olney's famous race is run every Shrove Tuesday (also called Pancake Day in the U.K., Fat Tuesday in other parts of the world... the day before Ash Wednesday). It dates back to 1445 and it is believed it all began with a townswoman late for the Shriving Service at the Olney parish church.
The day is significant. Eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, is an ancient tradition. It is the day before Lent; the start of the traditional fast for Catholics/Anglicans. By giving up dairy products, people marked Jesus' 40 days and nights in the wilderness. So on Shrove Tuesday, stores of dairy products were used up in the pancake mix.
Racing to church - The Olney Pancake Race
For this Olney woman almost 600 years ago, it was also important to attend the Shriving Service before the start of Lent, a time to confess sins before Ash Wednesday. So the story goes, hearing the church bells ring out for the service, the townswoman fled her house fearful of being late. She ran the distance down High Street to make it to the parish church - still clutching her frying pan and wearing an apron.
Now, the event is still commemorated hundreds of years later in the Olney pancake race. The Olney residents (women) compete in traditional apron, cap, and holding a fying pan with a real pancake. They must toss their pancake once at the start and once at the finish by the church.
The race starts at 11.55 am. The Olney High Street is shut, and spectators line the route from the Market Place all the way to Olney's St.Peter and St.Paul church.
Transatlantic links
When the Olney pancake race resumed following World War II, a story ran in the town paper in Liberal, Kansas. The local pastor loved the idea and contacted folks in Olney to become sister cities and host a complementary and competing pancake race. The two towns have partnered and competed every year since 1950.
So....
Tim and I know a family in Liberal, Kansas... and this year they were the chairmen of Liberal's pancake races. Recently the two cities send a representative to the other city's pancake race. Our friends asked us a couple of weeks ago if we (because of Morgan's Kansas roots) would represent Liberal at the races. We had no idea what we were in for, but we eagerly said yes!
Olney is about an hour west of our home in Cambridge. We arrived at 10:00 for a pre-race meeting with the town leadership, race organisers, and sponsors and found out what our agenda for the day would be...
It started off with the children's races. There were 12 races and Tim was asked to start one of them by ringing the bell...
And they're off!
No points for second place...
Tim with the Mayor of Olney... the picture was taken in the town centre in front of the World War II memorial which honors those from the town who gave their life during the war. Notice the flags, both U.K. and U.S. flags flying...
The girls had fun with the milk mascot... Say "moo," er, um, "cheese."
Following the children's races, our group went to one of the churches in town for pancakes. The pancake production was up on stage... 
Patiently waiting for pancakes...
... but with appetisers like these, we almost forgot that we needed pancakes!
As you may be able to see, lemon juice is poured from the bottle on the pancake, sugar is sprinkled on top of the juice, then the pancake is rolled and eaten. The pancake is similar to a crepe, but a bit thicker... quite tasty!!
11:55 am was quickly approaching, so we departed and walked the 400+ yard course...
... ending at the parish church.
The winner ran it in 58.5 seconds, the second fastest time in race history.
The winner beat Liberal's best time this year, bringing honour and glory back to Olney!
When the Pancake Race is over the runners, officials, townspeople and visitors, pour into the Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul for the great Shriving Service when several of the famous Olney Hymns are sung.
The church was packed, fortunately we had reserved seats on the second row!During the church service, we learned about the Olney Hymns. We had no idea that one, such a collection of hymn existed and two, that they were famous. These hymns were written in Olney by John Newton and William Cowper in the late-18th century.
We sang five of the Olney Hymns in the service. More info on the Olney Hymns can be seen at the wiki page here, but suffice it to say that one of John Newton's hymns needs little introduction... "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken" (LDS hymnbook #46) and one of his hymns needs no introduction: "Amazing Grace!" It was a moving experience to sing and hear these great hymns in a packed to capacity chapel where they were written... and sung with passion!
Tim was asked as Liberal's representative to present the winner's trophy towards the conclusion of the service after giving a few words to the congregation...
He's a natural at this stuff... I was more than happy to watch and take pictures!
Following the service the congregation departed the church for a walk back to the town center where the top three runners were showered with gifts.
Our final official function was a lunch that started at 3:00 pm. For dessert? Pancakes! Ryann was more than happy to put them away...
One last picture on the way out of town...
... and that was the day, a great day we'll always remember.
