Snail racing is a form of humorous entertainment that involves the

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 ...

of two or more air-breathing land snails. Usually the common garden snail species ''

Cornu aspersum ''Cornu aspersum'' (syn. ''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, this species may ...

'' 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 that take place 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, 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 atop 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. Racing numbers are painted on the shells or small stickers or tags are placed on them to distinguish each competitor.

Competitions

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 10 km east of the town of King's Lynn and 55 km west of the city of Norwich. History Congham's name is of Anglo-Saxon origin and derives from t ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

in the 1960s after founder Tom Elwes witnessed a snail racing event in France. The 1995 race saw the setting of the benchmark time of two minutes 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 was won by Heikki Kovalainen, a snail named after the Formula One racing driver, in a time of three minutes, two seconds. The 2010 World Championship was won by a snail called Sidney in a time of three minutes and 41 seconds. The first official competitive live snail race in London, the "Guinness Gastropod Championship" held in 1999, was commentated by horse racing pundit

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 featured a snail race in their advertisement '' Bet on Black'' 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 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. The "Grand Championship Snail Race" began in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the ...

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 Suff ...

as part of its annual summer fête. 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.

Snail Around The World

Snail Racing may also refer to measuring how fast a snail can go across a distance, usually the world; without stopping and in a strait line. A common source of this info is informational tv shows such as

Curiosity Show ''The Curiosity Show'' is an Australian educational children's television show produced from 1972 to 1990 and hosted by Rob Morrison and Deane Hutton. The show was produced by Banksia Productions in South Australia for the Nine Network. 500 ...

In popular culture

* Season 3 of the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

animated series ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character ...

'' features an episode called "The Great Snail Race," in which the title character trains his pet snail Gary to compete in a snail race. * The 2013

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

film ''

Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

'', produced by DreamWorks Animation, is based on the concept of snail racing. *In the 2015 video game ''

Undertale ''Undertale'' is a 2015 2D role-playing video game created by American indie developer Toby Fox. The player controls a child who has fallen into the Underground: a large, secluded region under the surface of the Earth, separated by a magical ...

'', there is a

minigame A minigame (also spelled mini game and mini-game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short game often contained within another video game. A minigame contains different gameplay elements, and is often smaller or more simplistic, than t ...

of snail racing when the player interacts with a ghost named Napstablook.

References

External links

Video about the World Snail Racing Championships
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World Snail Racing Championships
snailracing.net Animal racing Gastropods and humans