Joint champions batter competition to win Cork pancake race 

A pancake race that dates back to 1826 was recreated on Cork city’s MacCurtain St yesterday.

The participants, traders and employees of businesses on the street, flipped pancakes in frying pans as they ran.

The joint pancake race champions were The Address’s Azim Ali and the Metropole’s Robert Bejanishvili.

The Shrove Tuesday tradition was first held by Thompson’s Bakery and was then revived by the Metropole Hotel in 2018.

Mr Bejanishvili said: “It feels really good to win, I would race one more time just to win again.”

“Fifteen years of training went into today. I do have a history in track and sport, and I played handball professionally for 15 years.

“I would definitely tell people to join next year. It’s huge fun.

“If you want to win, I would definitely suggest training,” Mr Bejanishvili joked.

For Mr Ali, while he didn’t mind sharing the joint championship title, he said it will “definitely be me winning next year”.

Training

“I’m just going to run a lot: Run away from people, run towards people, all of that,” Mr Ali said, when talking about the training he planned for next year’s race.

“I will start spending more time on the treadmills in our hotel gym now."

Mr Ali said he woke up at 6am and told himself that he would be the winner.

“I just wanted to win, and so I did; that was the plan,” he added.

However, James Healy, who had high hopes of winning this year, said he was not “disappointed”, because it was “all fun taking part in it”.

Mr Healy, who works at the Shelbourne Bar, had previously won the race.

“I’ll go back to training and come back stronger for the next one, and I will remember to bring my runners next time,” Mr Healy added.