Olympic Snail Race
Makry Gialos Crete 2006
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When Snail Racing came to Crete
The year 2004 saw the introduction of snail racing in SouthEast Crete at the resort of Makrigialos.
The Olympio Café on the harbour was the venue for this very British sport.
The owners, Dimitri and Chara Kakouri were looking for novel entertainment for their guests and through conversation with one of
their regular visitors, they come up with the idea for this rather bizarre sport.
Because of their pride in Cretan snails, they decided to develop this as a regular weekly event, weather permiting.
In May the first race was held in a special stadium constructed by Dimitri and decorated with the flags of Europe, this proved very popular.
Six snails were raced on a 30 cm course and usually 3 or 4 races took place, finally a 60 cm race called the Marathon would end the evening.
To add to the excitement, guests were allowed to choose their own snail with a small prize for each race winner. Photographs were also taken and (some) will be included on the Olympio web site.
The races were organized by John Greer, one of the many British people now living in Makrigialos.
The events were held for the entertainment of guests and proved very popular, it is hoped to improve on the events next season.