A ROAD in Christchurch will become a race track next week as the town marks Shrove Tuesday in style.

Christchurch Food Festival is organising charity pancake races in front of the historic Priory Church.

Races start at 10.30am on Tuesday, February 17, and will see chefs, business people and local celebrities grabbing their frying pans.

After a successful event last year, the Food Festival committee wants to encourage more teams to enter to raise more money.

Proceeds will go to the festival’s charity, the Christchurch Food Festival Education Trust.

Entrance for a team of four is £20, while individual chefs are also being encouraged to enter for £5.

Last year’s event saw Halifax Bank take the top team prize, while Ludwig Spitzer, chef at Loch and Quay, won the individual chef event.

Vicki Hallam, chairman of the Food Festival committee, said: “We had great fun last year. It was amazing how competitive everyone was but we had to disqualify some team members as there was a bit of cheating going on with pancakes not being tossed enough.

“We’d love even more teams to get involved this year to join in the fun.

“We’ll also be using the pancake races to launch this year’s festival, which promises to be even better than previous years as we’ll be expanding down to Christchurch Quay with a new Festival Village in addition to the popular high street market.”

Any teams wishing to enter the pancake races should contact the organiser Tim Lloyd by emailing tim.lloyd@captainsclubhotel.com This year’s Christchurch Food Festival will take place on May 9-10 and information can be found at christchurchfoodfest.co.uk