Flipping good: Pancake Day in Brick Lane

Candice Webber, Robert Milligan, Denis Cogan & Gary McKechnie pic: Joanna Kindeberg

Around sixty pancake flippers donned fancy dress at Brick Lane on Tuesday for the annual Great Spitalfields Pancake Race.

The charity event attracted a wide rage of competitors who were ready to show off their flipping skills in order to raise money for London Air Ambulance.

Detectives, chefs, five queens, a monkey and a banana were some of the characters that took part in the race.

Three teams from nfpSynergy, a local research consultancy specialising in not for profit organisations, took part in the event. One of their employees, dressed as Sherlock Holmes, said: “As we do research for charities, the charity event was appealing for us.”

Two theatrical hosts gave the 15 teams a lesson in pancake tossing before the race, and denounced anyone who sneakily tried to miss one of the required mid-race flips.

Clowning around from E Team. Pic: Joanna Kindeberg

The initial rounds were fast paced but for some the flip became a flop as their pancakes hit the floor in the middle of the race. However, it was the expert chefs from Habour and Jones catering company who were a cut above the rest in the final round.

Gary McKechnie, Director of Food at Harbour and Jones, said his team had been “flipping hard all week” to prepare for the race.

For all of their hard work, the winning team was awarded a selection of donated prizes, including a bottle of champagne, breakfast at popular brunch spot Breakfast Club, and a frying pan trophy, which is engraved with the winners’ names each year.