Rutters and The BV triumph in a Pancake Showdown!

Laura Hitchcock reports in an entirely unbiased fashion on the 2023 annual pancake race in Sturminster Newton organised by SturAction

The day was Shrove Tuesday, which meant the great and the good of Sturminster Newton were assembled on The Rec for the annual pancake race. The going was good to soft as the team from Yewstock School bravely took the first turn on the track. Moderate chaos admittedly ensued as pancake flipping while running was discovered to be trickier than anticipated, but all completed the course in fine style (no fallers, though the same can’t be said for the pancakes). Excitement then shivered through the assembled crowd (there was an air of polite attention, anyway) as teams from Harts Of Stur, NFU Mutual Sturminster Newton, Friars Moor Veterinary Clinic, and a joint team of Rutters Solicitors and The BV magazine lined up for the adult relay. One pan, one pancake (heavily disguised as a tortilla – lighter and harder to control, there was much muttering at the start line) – and Local Rules meant flipping MUST occur as racers ran down the track. On the first leg a close-run, steadily moving pack flipped their pancakes with care. A calm

Ellie from Rutters moving in for the winning sprint, leaving Harts of Stur to take a close second changeover meant there was little between the teams. A more competitive spirit entered with the second leg, and the race began to speed up, encouraging yells were heard, pancakes tossing with wild abandon.

We won’t have to run

A lead started to stretch, with Harts and The BV/Rutters teams battling for first place ... (it may have been muttered in the hearing of this reporter among the waiting racers on the start line ‘you promised me we wouldn’t have to run!’). The crowd jumped and cheered, ooh-ing in sympathy as pancakes inevitably missed their pan and fell to the grass. On the final stretch the Harts and Rutters flippers were neck and neck, until with a final flourish of her wrist Ellie from Rutters flipped her pancake, stretched her legs and sailed over the line in first place, deftly catching her pancake she did so.

The crowd went wild (well, they clapped as enthusiastically as children let out of school for a fun afternoon are prone to do) as the excited BV/Rutters team punched the air and cheered each other from oppsite ends of the relay track. Then things became a little more organised as the William Barnes Primary School children moved in for the actual school races. Possibly putting the grown ups to shame with their ability to line up, concentrate and run in a straight line ...

Huge thanks to Jacqui Wragg and SturAction for organising, to Harts of Stur for the pancake pans, to Yewstock School and William Barnes Primary School for allowing the grown ups to crash their pancake races, and to our fellow competing teams for making it far more fun than a pancake race has any right to be.

Monthly updates from the various North Dorset police teams. This month’s news comes from Sturminster Newton Town and North Dorset Rural Neighbourhood Policing Team