Event - Pancake Race Flips Upside Down

12 February 2010

Report by Emily B, Lucy R and Lauren W - Year 6

On Friday 12th February at 9.35am, Bidford-On-Avon Primary School's teachers prepared on the junior playground for the annual pancake race. But was the school race to be dogged by allegations of cheating yet again?

On a cold and cloudy February morning, teachers from Bidford school gathered for the pancake race. The breezy weather was worrying the line-up - would their pancakes be blown away? No-one knew. The line up consisted of a few TAs and 18 teachers including favorites: Mr Thackway (last year's winner), Miss Mason and Mrs White.

At 9.35am the race official, Mrs Whiting, explained the set up. The staff were to run on the starting whistle and flip the pancake at least 5 times before they reached the finish line. Mrs Whiting blew the whistle to start. It is rumored that there was a false start from Mr Carter, a newcomer and visiting teacher, but nobody was sure so the race continued.

Mr Carter took an early lead, with Mrs Mills close behind. As the race progressed, it was clear that Mr Carter was going to win, and, sure enough, he sprinted across the finish line in first place.

After an exciting race the positions were officially announced. Mr Carter was the winner, Mrs Mills was the runner up and in third place was Mr Thackway. This surprised Mrs Walsh who previously stated when asked who will win, "I think Mr Thackway will win. He has an advantage being so tall so I think he can get his head across the finish line first."

Meanwhile, accusations were being made that Mr Carter had cheated. Jake Rosewell, aged 10, a pupil in Mrs Mills' class said, "People are saying, including Mrs Mills, that Mr Carter was doing an action that wasn't really flipping the pancake, just making it go up and down."

However, Cavan Farrow in Mr Thackway and Mr Carter's class argued, "I don't think that anyone at all cheated because I was in the front row. Also, I think Mr Thackway had an advantage because he had a bigger pan than everyone else. Over all, I think that the race this year was good because nobody dropped their pancake for a change."

So yet again, Bidford's pancake race was hit by controversy. Lets hope it is better next year but, after all, it's the race official's vote that counts... isn't it?

Mr Carter, the winner!