Watch Liverpool Pancake Race 2023 as champion defends title in annual race against top chefs

Liverpool's traditional Pancake Day race, pitting the city's top chefs against each other to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, has returned.

Held in the gardens of Liverpool Parish Church, the annual race is designed to see how the city's top chefs stack up, as they have to complete laps of the garden whilst flipping a pancake.

Bill Addy, Chief Executive of Liverpool BID Company said: "The pancake race in Liverpool Paris church has been going for a number of years, each year we build on it. This year, we’ve got five great chefs representing hotels, restaurants and bars in the city centre.”

Rules and race history

The pancake must be thick enough to withstand the outdoors, light enough to be flipped cleanly while running, and must not fall from the pan.

The city’s top chefs have to complete laps of the garden whilst flipping a pancake. The winner receives an engraved pancake pan, presented by the Rector of Liverpool, the Revd Canon Dr Crispin Pailing.

The origin of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday lies in the tradition of using up remaining fat and dairy products before 'fasting' began in Lent. Held initially in the 1980s, the Pancake Day race was revived in Liverpool in the mid-2000s.

And the winner is...

Alex Hopkins from Lunya won the coveted race for the second year on the run and said he now has his eyes set on the The Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll race in Gloucester.

Alex said: "I was actually thinking of doing that mental cheese race. You know where you chase cheese down the hill? I’m going to continue my career in novelty races."

The race, near Brockworth, Gloucester, attracts people from around the globe, who come to chase a Double Gloucester cheese down the 200-yard-long and very steep hill - often resulting in multiple injuries.