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Fourteen teams battled it out in Ely recently over the quarter-a-mile course laden with a 20kg bag of spuds, all of which had been grown by farmers in the Fens surrounding the city.
The two-man team from the Cambridge Ambulance Service were crowned worthy champions, winning their heat before, in the final, powering away from runners-up the Atrium Gym in the dash to the line. The Sylhet Restaurant Ely came in third.
The winning team were racing with potatoes from farmers D Palmer and Sons.
Eleven other teams entered the race with action the most fast and furious as seen in the five years of the event!
Also hotly contested was the Pretoria Energy Fillies and Mares 10 kg ladies race. J Gilbert and Sons provided the potatoes with the winning ladies coming from Dawn Lamb Fitness.
A fiercely contested children’s race race between St Mary’s, St John’s and The Lantern primary schools saw St Marys school lift the Corkers Crisps trophy. The three schools will share the £500 prize for their endeavours.
Austen Dack, of organisers Isle of Ely Produce, said: “It was a fantastic set of races we could tell that all of the runners from local gyms,fitness clubs all are keen to win. A special mention to Widow Twankey from KD Theatre Company. She was in the main race promoting Aladdin Ely’s Professional Pantomime this year.”
Donations on the day helped to raise more than £2500 for local schools and charities from the event.
The event is put on by Isle of Ely Produce to celebrate the region’s potato growers fish and chips and the local harvest festival held in Ely Cathedral. Over 2,000 people turned out to watch the action.
Isle of Ely director Oliver Boutwood said: It was lovely to see so many people coming out to support the teams today, Isle of Ely Produce are happy to play such an important part in the community and will continue to invest in these types of events in the future. “The event underlines our pledge to support the journey of the potato from the field to the fryer.”
Mr Boutwood said more than £2500 was raised for local charities “some of which will go to the Ely Hereward Rotarians who did a marvellous job stewarding the event along the high street. We were very grateful to recive sponsorship from The Bay Stonehaven, Kingfisher Fish and Chips Plymouth and also Jimmy Buchan’s Skippers Choice too.”
The winning duo from this year’s feature race received £100 cash prize and a trophy. This was made even more special due to the fact one of the Cambridge Ambulance runners had actually been on the night shift and had had only one hours sleep.
All competitors got to keep their potatoes as part of their £10 entry fee[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″ el_class=”sticky-container “][mnky_ads id=”2782”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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