‘Ready, Steady, Slow’: Championship Snail Race at 0.006 MPH

Over the next few weeks, Paris will be home to many of the world’s most impressive athletes, including some of the fastest people on the planet. Among the Olympic competitors are runners who can complete a marathon in just over two hours, a mile in under four minutes and 100 meters in under 10 seconds.

Earlier this month, the rural village of Congham, England, played host to a less likely group of athletes: dozens of garden snails. They had gathered to compete in the World Snail Racing Championships, where the world record for completing the 13.5-inch course is 2 minutes. At that speed—about 0.006 miles per hour—the snails would take more than six days to cover a mile.