![Potato race 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Potato_race_2.png)
A potato race is one of several similar
racing
In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...
events where contestants compete to collect a number of
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es as quickly as possible. Participants may run on foot or be mounted on
horseback, depending on the style of race. It is not clear precisely when or where the potato race originated. Potato races of both types were most popular in Australia, England, Scotland, the United States of America and Wales. Potato races were commonly held at community events such as
county fair
An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhibit ...
s,
rodeos,
picnics, and
track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
meets from at least the middle of the 19th century until approximately the 1930s.
Potato races run on foot were generally considered events for children, and were often held in schools as playground games or part of physical education, or at local events such as fairs.
Mounted events were particularly prevalent in the
Southwestern United States. Individual mounted events usually consisted of individuals competing to be the fastest at collecting potatoes along a structured course. Team-based events had no defined course, and were notable for their violence. Players were permitted almost every possible tactic for interfering with the opposing team, including dragging other riders off their horses.
Potato races, both on-foot and mounted, are occasionally still held at local gatherings or riding competitions today, although the violent mounted version has died out.
History
![Mounted potato race](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Mounted_potato_race.png)
It is unclear precisely where and when the potato race was originally developed. It was mentioned by name without elaboration in newspaper reports of athletic events in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
,
Australia, and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
as early as the 1860s.
The
state fair
A state fair is an annual competitive and recreational gathering of a U.S. state's population, usually held in late summer or early fall. It is a larger version of a county fair, often including only exhibits or competitors that have won in th ...
of
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
advertised a potato race "that beats Base Ball all hollow" in 1869, although again there was no description of the rules.
In September 1871, newspapers in a number of US states reprinted a report from the ''
Boston Advertiser
The ''Boston Daily Advertiser'' (est. 1813) was the first daily newspaper in Boston, and for many years the only daily paper in Boston.
History
The ''Advertiser'' was established in 1813, and in March 1814 it was purchased by journalist Natha ...
'' which detailed an on-foot potato race that had taken place in
East Wilton, New Hampshire, with many remarking that such events were becoming fashionable.
The county fair of
Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Lycoming County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 114,188. Its county seat is Williamsport.
Lycoming County comprises the Williamsport metropolitan statistical area.
About northwest o ...
listed an on-foot potato race on its program in September 1871, directly referencing these reports.
Official rules for potato racing were printed in the 1902 Official Handbook of the
Amateur Athletic Union of the United States
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...
.
In 1902, ''
The Courier-Journal
''The Courier-Journal'',
also known as the
''Louisville Courier Journal''
(and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''),
is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...
'' of
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
described a mounted potato race that took place at the Louisville Horse Show, remarking on its violence and noting that it "made a big hit."
It was not until 1912 that newspapers reported potato racing as a mounted rodeo event, with advertisements for one large
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
rodeo listing the potato race by name, although without elaboration on the rules.
A 1913 report in the
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...
clearly describes a team-based potato race taking place at a
Mardi Gras celebration in
Salinas, California, calling it a "new riding stunt".
By 1913, on-foot potato races were being referred to as old-fashioned.
A 1917 article in
Popular Mechanics
''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
magazine suggested racing to screw in a line of
lightbulb
An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the so ...
s as a substitute for potato races.
The popularity of mounted potato races as rodeo events died out by the 1930s.
Informal on-foot potato races for children are still featured as a means of entertainment at many local celebrations and events in the United States.
Mounted potato races are still used as a part of
equestrian gymkhana events for youth today, albeit in a more structured and form that lacks the violence of the team-based rodeo version.
Foot races
Potato races run on foot were commonly held for children as playground games and during
physical education
Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...
classes in schools.
They were also featured at local events such as picnics or fairs, and still occasionally are today.
Potato races have also been used by researchers to measure physical performance in children.
A number of lanes, one per runner, would be marked out. Potatoes would be placed at intervals along each lane, and a basket would be placed several feet behind the lane. Runners would race to retrieve potatoes one by one, returning each one to the basket before returning for the next. The winner was the first to collect all the potatoes in their lane.
In one variation, two runners competed to be the first to return fifty potatoes to their own basket, racing simultaneously to take the closest potato from a single line of one hundred potatoes rather than separate lanes.
On-foot potato races have been likened to the
Zuni game of ''A-we-wō-po-pa-ne,'' which involved collecting stones rather than potatoes.
Writing in 1915,
feminist theorist Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (; née Perkins; July 3, 1860 – August 17, 1935), also known by her first married name Charlotte Perkins Stetson, was an American humanist, novelist, writer, lecturer, advocate for social reform, and eugenicist. She w ...
described seeing a
moving picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
of a potato race on ice, and remarked on the notable difference between the performance of men and women, which she attributed to the restrictive clothing worn by women at the time.
Mounted
Individual competition
Potato races with mounted participants were historically geared toward adult participation. They were prominent in the
Southwestern United States.
In mounted races, competitors used sharpened stakes to spear potatoes and bring them from one end of a course to another. These races were timed, and the racer whose basket was heaviest at the end was the winner.
One less common variation bore some similarities to the
blood sport
A blood sport or bloodsport is a category of sport or entertainment that involves bloodshed. Common examples of the former include combat sports such as cockfighting and dog fighting, and some forms of hunting and fishing. Activities char ...
of
rooster pulling, but used potatoes rather than partially-buried
rooster
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
s. A line of potatoes was spaced out along a course, and a rider would ride by at a
loping pace, leaning down from their horse and snatching the potatoes from the ground. Riders who failed to maintain speed, or missed a potato, would be disqualified. The fastest remaining rider was the winner.
Mounted potato races have been staged with participants riding on vehicles rather than horses. The ''
British Almanac
The ''British Almanac'' was an almanac published from 1828 until 1914 in London, United Kingdom by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. For the given year, each volume contained a 'calendar of remarkable days and terms', 'anniversarie ...
'' of 1897 mentions a bicycle-mounted potato race in an article describing bicycle gymkhana.
A large picnic in
Radford, England, in 1908 featured a bicycle potato race whose riders were young women. It was described at the time as a "splendid exhibition".
In 1910, 5,000 spectators at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway watched a sort of reverse potato race where passengers in
cars tried to throw potatoes from the vehicle into baskets placed along a track.
''
American Motorcyclist'' magazine reported that the First Annual Motorcycle Rodeo, held in 1970, featured a potato race with riders mounted on motorcycles.
Team-based tournament
![Mounted potato race 1941 Vale Oregon - 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Mounted_potato_race_1941_Vale_Oregon_-_1.jpg)
Around the turn of the 20th century some mounted potato races were run as competitions between teams attempting to fill a basket with potatoes. These events were not so much ordered races as they were free-for-alls, which could last as long as ten minutes.
They were notably chaotic, as riders were not confined to lanes, and the rules permitted competitors to use their stakes to knock potatoes off the stakes of the other teams.
Physical violence often ensued; the
autobiography of
cowboy Harry Arthur Gant describes one team race at a
Frontier Days event in 1909 that became so violent that the judges were forced to halt the competition in the middle.
''The Courier-Journal'' noted that violent tactics such as pulling riders off their horses were considered acceptable, and that "biting is about the only thing that is barred."
Writing in ''Plains Folk'', James Hoy remarked upon the similarity of these races to the
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
n sport of
buzkashi
Buzkashi ( Pashto/ fa, بزکشی, lit=goat pulling) is a traditional Central Asian sport in which horse-mounted players attempt to place a goat or calf carcass in a goal. It is played primarily in Afghanistan. Similar games are known as kokpar, ...
, which also involves fiercely competitive riders attempting to bring items to a goal, albeit on a much larger scale than potato races.
See also
*
Corrida de sortija
The corrida de sortija is a traditional gaucho sport of the Rio de la Plata area of South America that is similar to ring jousting.
In Spain, it forms part of the annual in Ciutadella de Menorca
Ciutadella de Menorca () or simply Ciut ...
*
Cowboy polo
Cowboy polo is a variation of polo played mostly in the western United States. Like regular polo, it is played in chukkas (periods) with two teams on horses who use mallets to hit a ball through a goal. It differs from traditional polo in that five ...
*
Egg-and-spoon race
References
{{Equestrian Sports, state=collapsed
Racing
Games of physical skill
Children's games
Novelty running
Horse racing
Mounted games
Rodeo-affiliated events
Potatoes