Dozens of people braved the grim weather this Strove Tuesday by coming to support local businesses who took part in Launchpad’s annual Pancake Race.

Launchpad, a charity aimed at preventing homelessness in Reading, invited local organisations to compete for the frying-pan trophy.

Each team was tasked to put forward their best fancy dress attempts and take part in a relay race, flipping a pancake as they ran.

This year, however, was a little different. Due to the rain, the Pancake Race was more of a pancake power walk.

Teams were consistently reminded to walk not run to avoid slipping and injuring themselves.

Matt and Connor from Nexus who got through to the semi-final said they were chuffed with the achievement having lost the previous year.

“It was an unexpected win,” they both agreed. “We’ve been training hard all week and have gone through a lot of pancake mixture.

“After our loss last year, it’s good to get back on track.”

When asked about what they thought about the no-running rule, they expressed that it was a shame as “sprinting” had been part of their training program.

The event saw a great turnout despite the awful weather, with each team giving it their best shot especially with regards to fancy dress.

Some honourable mentions were Nexus’ Where’s Wallys and the four hulks from Buzz Gym (very apt.)

The winning team was RSM UK and employee Alessandra Milo said that she was very pleased with herself and her teammates.

“I’ve just joined the company,” she said. “So it was amazing to win something like this.”

There was a large amount of rule-breaking given the no-running rule with some teams ignoring the speaker who was telling racers to refrain from sprinting.

If the teams failed to stop running when they were asked to, they were disqualified from the event and lost out on the chance to nab a prize.

However, no one got hurt and no one took it too badly when they were sadly asked to back down from the competition.

Fundraising Officer at Launchpad Jonny Barnett said that the Pancake Race is the most exciting event they hold each year.

“It’s a long-standing tradition,” he said. “It’s good to see everyone is having fun. If you talk about it around the town, everyone knows about it.”

Each team is charged £125 to enter the race and all the money goes towards fighting homelessness and allowing the charity to continue doing their excellent work.