Snails slug it out at racing competition in Hualien

Taipei, May 25 (CNA) A snail racing event returned to Hualien County on Saturday for the first time in five years, with dozens of mollusks crawling to the finish line in a bid for the prize of fresh organic sweet potato leaves.

For the snail racing championship, which was first introduced in 2019, some 81 people from all over Taiwan brought their snails to Fenglin Township this year.

Due to the overwhelming number of people who signed up for the competition, an extra event was added to the three races that had been planned for this year, according to one of the organizers, Cheng Jen-shou (鄭仁壽).

The championship was open to all kinds of snails, regardless of the species, the organizers said.

The snails were placed on a cloth marked with two concentric circles, and they raced 33 centimeters to the outer ring.

Twenty snails competed in the first race, with the winner finishing in a time of 1 minute and 25 seconds.

A participant surnamed Chen (陳), from Taitung County, said she had collected 10 snails in the wild about a week ago and began training them and feeding them with purple sweet potato leaves.

Chen said she later chose the best among the 10 and named it "Yeh Lo Ma." On Saturday, the snail won the second race in Hualien in a time of 2 min and 15 sec.

Meanwhile, another woman surnamed Yeh (葉) said she was a little disappointed with the performance of her snail. However, it was understandable, she said, joking that the snail was in "postpartum period" after laying some eggs the day before the race.

According to Cheng, the aim of the snail racing competition was to provide some humorous entertainment and attract visitors to Fenglin, which was described as a relatively slow-paced township.