Building partnerships over pancakes

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Tabitha Lee
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Some may think it odd to see several townswomen sprint down a high street wearing an apron and cap with a frying pan in hand, but for Olney, England, this is an annual occurrence.
Every year, on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, known as Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day in the U.K., the female residents of Olney participate in a race down the Olney High Street.

Tradition has it that, almost 600 years ago, a lady in Olney was making pancakes when she heard the church bells ringing for the Shriving Service. Afraid she would be late; she dashed in her apron, frying pan in hand, from her house to the church.

The event is still commemorated hundreds of years later in the Olney Pancake Race. The female residents of Olney, each dressed in their kitchen attire and a pancake in their frying pan, dash approximately 400 yards from the Market Place all the way to Olney's St. Peter and St. Paul Church. Participants even have to successfully toss their pancake at the start and finish of the race.

Pancake Day is an ancient tradition. It is the day before the start of Lent -- the Catholic observance of the liturgical year from Ash Wednesday to Holy Thursday. 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.

In 1950, a story of the Olney pancake races ran in a newspaper in Liberal, Kansas. The local pastor thought it was a great idea, and engaged Olney to become its sister city and to have a pancake race competition. Since then, the two towns have run a race over the same distance on the same day, and the best of Liberal compete with the best of Olney for the fastest time.

Recently, representatives from the two cities have gone to each other's pancake races. Morgan Kuehne a Wichita, Kansas native, and her husband Lt. Col. Timothy Kuehne, 100th Air Refueling Wing Chief of Safety, were asked to represent Liberal in Olney for the races in 2012.

"I had no idea what to expect," said the colonel.

"The town of Olney welcomed our family as part of the VIP delegation with the mayor, deputy mayor, and the region's high sherriff."

When the Pancake Race is over the runners, officials, townspeople and visitors, pour into the parish church of St. Peter & St. Paul for the Shriving Service.

Competitors place their frying pans around the font and occupy seats reserved for them, and during the service, the official prizes are presented to the winners.

The Kuehne family attended the church service with the town and runners, where Kuehne presented the championship plate to the winner at the end of the service in the church.

Like most races, there is a prize for the fastest runner, but for the Olney Pancake Race, there are also prizes for the oldest participant and the one who raises the most money for charities, both local and international.

"Following the service we had lunch, and of course, we ate pancakes throughout the day," said Kuehne. "The pancakes are more like crepes, and eaten with lemon juice and sprinkled sugar, rolled up. They were good!"