Fastest snail racing

The annual World Snail Racing Championships held in July at Congham, Norfolk, UK is conducted on a 33-cm (13-in) circular course, outside St Andrews Church. The runners race from the centre to the perimeter. Some race several times as they are divided into heats to cater for the 150 snail competitors who enter every year. The all-time record holder is a snail named Archie, trained by Carl Bramham (UK), who sprinted to the winning post in 2 min 00 sec in 1995. Apparently, like all great racing champions, he was sent to stud in a cabbage patch.

The World Snail Racing Championships have been held every year since 1967, with the busiest years being 2000 and 2001, each attracting a record 250 gastropod entrants. The event has only been cancelled four times - three because of the COVID-19 pandemic and once (2007) because the pitch was waterlogged. On two occasions, the same snail has returned to defend its title: in 2001 for Eddie Irvine, and 2017 for Herbie 2. And the most wins by a trainer is two, shared by Sue Ryder with Racer (2013) and Racer II (2014), and Thomas Vincent with Schumacher (1998) and Eddie Irvine (2000).

The Congham Championships is not the only snail racing competition in the world but it's one of the few in which the competitors are not eaten! The famous snail race in Lagardère, France, for example, ends with the losing racers being tossed into the cooking pot.