Snail racing is a form of humorous entertainment that involves the racing of two or more air-breathing

land snail A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...

s. Usually the garden snail (''

Cornu aspersum ''Cornu aspersum'' (syn. ''Helix aspersa'', ''Cryptomphalus aspersus''), known by the common name garden snail, is a species of land snail in the family Helicidae, which includes some of the most familiar land snails. Of all terrestrial molluscs, ...

'') is used. This species is native to Europe, but has been accidentally introduced to many countries all over the world. There are numerous snail racing events in different places around the world, though the majority take place in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Snail races usually take place on a circular track with the snails starting in the middle and racing to the perimeter. The track usually takes the form of a damp cloth on top of a table.11 January 2006
World Snail Racing Championships: Press release 2
. Accessed 5 August 2007. The radius is traditionally set at 13 or 14 inches (33 to 36 cm). Racing numbers are painted on the shells or small stickers or tags are placed on them to distinguish each competitor.

Competitions

World Snail Racing Championships

The annual "World Snail Racing Championships" started in

Congham Congham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is situated some east of the town of King's Lynn and west of the city of Norwich. History Congham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from the Old English ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, United Kingdom in the 1960s after founder Tom Elwes witnessed a snail racing event in France. They are usually held in July. The 1995 race saw the setting of the benchmark time of 2 minutes over the 13-inch (33 cm) course by a snail named Archie. The 2007 event had to be cancelled when the course was waterlogged by a prolonged period of heavy rain, only days after the death of Elwes.Lynn News. 23 July 2007.
Snail racing cancelled
. Accessed 5 August 2007. The 2008 World Championships were won by Heikki Kovalainen, a snail named after the Formula One racing driver, in a time of 3 minutes and 2 seconds.

Guinness Gastropod Championship

The first official competitive live snail race in London, the "Guinness Gastropod Championship" held in 1999, was commentated by

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

John McCririck John Michael McCririck (17 April 1940 – 5 July 2019) was an English horse racing pundit, television personality and journalist. McCririck began his career at '' The Sporting Life'', where he twice won at the British Press Awards for his camp ...

who started the race with the words "Ready, Steady, Slow". This became common terminology for the start of a race. The following year

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

featured a snail race in their advertisement ''

Bet on Black ''Bet on Black'', occasionally referred to as "''Snail Race''", is an advertising campaign run in 2000 by Diageo to promote Guinness-brand stout in the United Kingdom. The piece, directed by Frank Budgen, follows a snail race taking place in a to ...

'' as part of their " Good things come to those who wait" campaign.The Inspiration Room , Daily.
Guinness TV Adverts
. Accessed 5 August 2008. The advert won the silver award at the

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

and was self-parodied for their "Extra Cold" campaign several years later.Cragg, Gully. ''The Independent''. 13 March 2003.
The fine art of the big sell
. Accessed 5 August 2008.

Grand Championship Snail Race

The "Grand Championship Snail Race" began in 1992 in the village of

Snailwell Snailwell is a small village and civil parish in East Cambridgeshire, England around north of Newmarket. History The parish of Snailwell covers an area of in the extension of eastern Cambridgeshire that surrounds the town of Newmarket in Suffo ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England as part of its annual summer

fête In the United Kingdom and some of its former colonies, a fête or fete is a public festival organised to raise money for a charity, typically held outdoors. It generally includes entertainment and the sale of goods and refreshments. Fetes are ty ...

. It regularly attracts up to 400 people to the village, more than doubling its usual population.BBC News. 13 July 2007.
Snails race well for village fete
. Accessed 5 August 2007.

References

{{reflist

External links

Video about the World Snail Racing ChampionshipsWorld Snail Racing Championships
snailracing.world
World Snail Racing Championships Archive
has results for the races in Congham from 2008-2019. Animal racing Gastropods and humans Sports originating in England