Snails put through their paces in racing championships

Snails love rain – which is just as well, as a torrential downpour delayed the start by 20 minutes, leaving ideal conditions for molluscs to gather speed.

The quirky event has become an annual fixture, attracting entrants from across the country.

The rules are simple. Each competitor brings their own snails. Each is marked with a number – for, as the organisers admit, "One garden snail looks very much like another."

The racing track is marked with two concentric circles. Snails are placed along the inner circle, and the winner is the first to reach the outer circle. The distance is 13 inches if a snail travels in a straight line. Some do, some don't. The course record is two minutes, set a decade ago by a snail called Archie.

As the competitors prepared to unleash their snails, Neil Riseborough, one of the trainers, said: "Conditions are absolutely ideal, just about perfect."

Ruth Brooks, from Devon, said: "I have recently become very interested in snails." She had brought 10 with her, explaining: "They are used to struggling in heavy Devon soil and so I am sure they will do well here today."

Just arrived from Japan, John Diksa, said: "I have shelled out to be here and it's well worth it."

Many entries were more local. Six-year-old Anton Lucas came from nearby Ashwicken. He said: "I've called my snail Zoomer. I like the way he goes."

Lottie Leysham, eight, came from Kent with her parents and brothers Keiter, 10, and Arfor, six. She said: "We've never been before and brought our snails specially from Kent."

Last year's winner, Claire Lawrence, from Litcham, Norfolk, was there with her grandson 4-year-old Max Bailey and his snail, Optimus Slime.

She said: "We released Sidney, who won last year, into our garden and we are sure this snail is one of his offspring. He has a really good pedigree and we have high hopes of him winning."

The champion, emerging from 120 competing snails, was Zoomer, owned by six-year-old Anton Lucas of Ashwicken, near King’s Lynn.

Anton said: “It’s lovely to win. I am going to set Zoomer free in the woods.”

But the winning time of 3mins 23secs was well outside the record. Mr Riseborough said: “I think the snails had been so enjoying themselves in the wet that they got tired out.”


/The Telegraph/