Competitive pancake flippers raced against each other in St Albans today (February 28) to raise money and awareness for charity.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABz2rb-3eAY

Teams of four people could enter two types of relay races – either the Flippin’ Walking Race, where racers constantly flip while walking, or the Running Race, where you run between stop points, flip, and keep running.

Organisations that submitted teams included Kingston Smith, Neves, Debenhams Ottoway, St Peter’s Church, Dylans, Hare and Hounds, Wagada, Earthworks, and Radio Verulam.

Pizza Hut runners sported an impressive range of fancy dress, including a huge pizza, a superhero, and an American footballer, and another team featured a person in a huge bee costume.

After two heats and a semi-final, winners of the Flippin’ Walking Race were private jet booking company PrivateFly, made up of teammates Rob Schwegmann, Kristian Lee, Julien Vivarelli, and Matt Barber.

CEO of PrivateFly, Adam Twidell, who was there to support the team, said: “We have entered the St Albans pancake race for the last five years, but this is our first trophy.

“Our team loves this local event and we are exceptionally proud to be the fastest walkers in our city.”

Running Race champions were from the restaurant Lussmanns, with racers Ben Rigby, Elia Solinas, Kristina Grigaite, and Alex Rosu.

Ben said it was “amazing” to have won, adding: “We wanted to help out in the community, and wanted to get stuck in as well, and support Home-Start.”

It was all in aid of Home-Start, a family support charity, and was organised in conjunction with Herts Business Independent (HBI).

Strategic director at Home-Start Herts, Suzy Moody, said: “I think it’s a really good opportunity to get the community together, local businesses, obviously we had some charities racing as well, and get Home-Start and Herts Businesses Independent out there.

“Showing everybody what we can do and, when everyone pulls together, how much fun we can have.”

Managing director of HBI, Simon George, described the event as a “hoot”.

He said: “All the teams really went for it, lots of dressing up which I think is brilliant, so everyone had a great time.”