A snail racing event was held in Hualien County on Saturday for the first time in five years, with dozens of mollusks crawling to the finish line in a bid for the prize of fresh organic sweet potato leaves.
Eighty-one people from all over Taiwan brought their snails to Fenglin Township (鳳林) to participate in the snail racing championship, which was introduced in 2019.
Due to the overwhelming number of sign ups, an extra event was added to the three races that had been planned for this year, said Cheng Jen-shou (鄭仁壽), one of the organizers.
Photo: CNA
The championship was open to all kinds of snails, the organizers said.
The snails were placed on a cloth marked with two concentric circles, and they raced 33cm to the outer ring.
Twenty snails competed in the first race, with the winner finishing in 1 minute and 25 seconds.
A participant from Taitung County surnamed Chen (陳) said she had collected 10 snails in the wild about a week ago and began training and feeding them with sweet potato leaves.
She later chose the best among the 10 and named it “Yeh Lo Ma,” Chen said.
On Saturday, the snail won the second race in Hualien, with a time of 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
A woman surnamed Yeh (葉) said she was a little disappointed with the performance of her snail, but added that it was understandable.
The snail was in “postpartum period,” she said, as it had laid some eggs the day before the race.
The aim of the snail racing competition was to provide some humorous entertainment and to attract visitors to Fenglin, which was described as a relatively slow paced township, Cheng said.
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