Snail Wins Town Festival´s ‘Drag Race’
In one of Spain´s more bizarre festivals a snail has won an epic drag race pulling an 8.4oz weight an amazing 12 inches in 10 minutes.
There was clearly nothing sluggish about winner Junco, one of 100 contestants in the Trapagaran stone-dragging contest in the town of Valle de Trapaga-Trapagaran, in northern Spain’s Basque country on Monday, 1st May.
The race has been held annually for more than 40 years, with each snail having their own special trainer.
Under race rules, each snail has 10 minutes to pull a standard weight as far as it can.
The weights are wooden packages loaded with sheets of lead, which are tied to a piece of string, which is in turn glued to the ‘contestants’.
Junco reportedly managed to claim the top prize by pulling a 240-gramme (8.4oz) weight a massive 30.5 centimetres (12 inches) in the set time of 10 minutes.
And although this year’s result was certainly something to shell-ebrate, Junco still has to go some to beat the all-time record of 18.89 inches (48 centimetres).
Race favourite Minilu’s coach Miguel Castillo explained after being beaten into second place: “We put them in the sink, pour water on them and feed them lettuce so they stick their heads out and start moving.”
Jose Angel Cabia – president of the Zaballa club which organises the event – added: “Initially we planned that the maximum number of participants would be 80.
“But given the turnout of children, young people and adults who came with their snails, we decided to extend it to 100 so as not to disappoint the fans, especially the little ones.”
Local media reported that all the contestants were rewarded by being released into a lush field after the epic race.