Crowds gathered to the High Street on Saturday 25 February to cheer on brave teams taking on challenges as part of the 14th annual Littlehampton Charity Pancake Olympics. The event, organised by Littlehampton Town Council, saw 13 teams take part in three fun Olympic inspired disciplines to win money for their chosen charities.

In the first challenge the teams faced the unique pancake curling discipline. One team member was tasked with sliding a curling stone with a pancake on top onto the target whilst the other teammate wafted using a frying pan. The winners of this round were FA Holland Funeralcare Littlehampton. Following closely behind were Oak Grove College, and taking bronze was 4Sight Vision Support.

The second discipline was the relay, where team members were tasked with walking from one end of the arena to the other and flip their pancake into their teammate’s pan, the teammate then had to walk back to the start and flip their pancake over their shoulder and into a basketball hoop. The Arun Yacht Club team took the Gold, Oak Grove College took Silver and All Saints Church took Bronze.

The final challenge and the one requiring great concentration was traditional pancake flipping! With just 30 seconds to secure the highest number of flips, the teams really felt the pressure. Bronze went to Arun Yacht Club, Silver to Morrisons and Gold to Age UK.

Winning the whole competition and receiving the top prize of £100 for their chosen charity courtesy of Arun Yacht Club was Oak Grove College.

The silver medals and £75 prize money courtesy of Event Power Engineering Ltd was awarded to the Arun Yacht Club team who then donated it to the Town Mayor’s charity. Finally, scooping up the bronze medal along with a £50 prize for their charity courtesy of Littlehampton Traders Partnership was FA Holland Funeralcare Littlehampton.

Hosting the event and making sure the day was full of pancake puns and facts, as well as encouraging the spectators to shout out ‘Oh Crepe’ when anyone dropped a pancake was Councillor Billy Blanchard-Cooper, Chair of the Community Resources Committee. Speaking at the event Billy said: “Thank you to all the participants and spectators for braving the cold to support this charity event. Every year, hundreds of pounds are raised through the teams participating in the challenges. We thank our three sponsors as well as Morrisons for the pancakes and Freedom Leisure for lending us the sporting equipment. I’d also like to thank Tyndall Jones for doing a collection in aid of the Mayor’s Charity, the Littlehampton & District Scouts – he raised £79.69. Congratulations to all the winners – you did brilliantly!”

Winners 2023

Curling

• Gold: FA Holland Funeralcare Littlehampton
• Silver: Oak Grove College
• Bronze: 4Sight Vision Support

Relay  

• Gold: Arun Yacht Club                       
• Silver: Oak Grove College
• Bronze: All Saints Church

Flipping

• Gold: Age UK
• Silver: Morrisons        
• Bronze: Arun Yacht Club                   

Overall Pancake Olympic Champions

• Gold: Oak Grove College
• Silver: Arun Yacht Club
• Bronze: FA Holland Funeralcare Littlehampton