St Wilfrid's Pancake Race

28th February 2017

We Raised £666.10!

Be warned- this article does feature some Pancake puns, which hopefully won't fall flat. The 28th February marked 2017's Pancake Day, and in-line with this St Wilfrid's Hospice, Birchwood Group's local charity of choice, hosted their Pancake Races with the help and exposure of MoreRadio. The races were held in Eastbourne's town centre highstreet and soon accumulated large crowds of spectators.

The Teams

We had two teams representing Birchwood, the "Birchwood A team", consisting of Dom, Tom, Steve and Ashley from Eastbourne Ford Sales and "Birchwood B team" Also known as "the Birchwood Flippers", who consisted of Harvey, Daniel, Sam and the speedster, Logan. As the first of the heat races drew closer, there was a buzz in the air as all teams started to get in their competitive mindset - light heartedly of course, but secretly no one wanted to get battered.

The Heats

The first of the races were heats consisting of three teams, with the winners and runners-up proceeding to the next round and each team competing in three races prior to the semi finals. 'Birchwood A Team' pressed hard early with three wins from three, with the 'Birchwood B Team' coming in 1st and 2nd in each of theirs- flipping impressive!

The Semi Finals

Tensions grew as both teams progressed into the knock-out section of the races- the semi finals. Birchwood A Team were up first, aiming to come first or second out of four in order to progress to the Final. With a sterling effort, the 'Birchwood A team' remained unbeaten and progressed into the finals. Next up the Birchwood B team. Despite being slow out the blocks due to a slip, the gap was slowly being closed, metre by metre. There was still a seismic gap when Logan took over, but with an unhuman performance he caught up. On the last stretch, he'd narrowly taken the lead, but out of nowhere, a gust caused the pancake to slip and fall, meaning "the flippers" were out. Unfortunate, but great effort all round.

The Finals

With a total of four teams in the final, the 'A team' had some seriously speedy competition. It was neck and neck through-out and with the lead on the final run, Town Property crêped up fast and were at our heels. On the last leg, it was elbow to elbow, but we were pipped at the post- worthy of a photo finish. A thrilling end to a successful day.

Thank you to St-Wilfrid's Hospice, and please remember to donate to this wonderful charity. To see more photos from the days events, click here and to keep up with the latest news from Birchwood Group, why not follow us on Facebook or Twitter?