It seems the origins of pancake race back to Saxon times and the town of Ripon. Well, it appears the health and safety czars and czarinas have now caught up with the tossing of pancakes as a threat to life and limb.
Red tape has ended the annual pancake race in the North Yorkshire city of Ripon.
Health and safety, child protection and insurance rules have gradually diminished the supply of volunteers in the cathedral city, where the messy event traditionally takes over the streets on Shrove Tuesday. “Finding volunteers to man the event on the day has just got too difficult,” said Bernard Bateman of Ripon town council, which co-organised the race with the Cathedral hierarchy. “We have had plenty of people wanting to take part, but no longer enough to organise them.”
The race, which sees a team of choristers and often portly clerics take on the pride of the town’s school and businesses, goes back - with regular interruptions - to pre-medieval times. Its origins are supposed to lie in a Saxon trick played on invading Danes, who accepted alcohol-drenched pancakes from local women who then stabbed them to death while they slept. Ripon also has the distinction of triggering America’s main pancake race, at Washington cathedral, which was launched after clergy saw a picture of the dean and chapter at Ripon running at full lick.
“Sadly, we’ve looked at things very carefully this year and decided that it can’t take place,” said the current dean, and race co-organiser, the Very Rev Keith Jukes. “The big reason is healthy and safety.
Red tape catches up with pancake racers | Food and drink | Life and Health
Categories:
