For members of the Trinity Methodist Church in Great Bend, the third time’s the charm.
Three years ago, Steve Dayton and several members of the congregation thought it would be fun to have their own Shrove Tuesday pancake race to go with their annual Pancake & Sausage feed.
Mother Nature wasn’t consulted.
It was way too windy and cold that first year, so the race portion was canceled. The feed, however continued as usual inside.
Last year, it wasn’t cold, but there was wind, so participants raced up and down the sanctuary aisles.
Heading into this year’s Easter season, the forecast wasn’t good; high winds were predicted and a Red Flag Warning of fire danger added to boot.
But as race time approached, the wind subsided some; at least enough so that participants could compete with the wind at their back.
The race is patterned after the 415-yard annual competition between Liberal and Olney England, including the rule that contestants must flip their cakes once at the beginning and once at the end of the race.
Fortunately, there is no provision that the cakes can’t hit the ground. When running with frying pan in hand, the cake does often miss the pan during a flip.
There’s no rule as to how many times it can hit the ground.
On Tuesday, participants Dorinda Bussman, Jan Elliot, Marion Corke and Cindy Daayton spent time practicing the flip inside the church foyer prior to the race. Cakes did hit the carpet a few times.
They hit the ground a couple times during the race, too, but Corke, along with Ken Roberts to do the pushing, had what in pancake circles is considered a “perfect run” — the cake didn’t touch the ground once. She made it to the tape first and was declared winner of the 2026 event.
Afterward, all gathered in the church to share pancakes and sausage provided by Leroy Hensley, Roberts, Scott Morrow, Don Regher and Rick Bussman in the kitchen.
Corke, meanwhile, had some thoughts about next year. “Will the wind blow? Most likely. It will probably snow; after all, this is Kansas, you know.”
True enough.
