“Tommy Trot” Beer Race

The Laughing Fish Pub held it’s annual “Tommy Trot” Beer Race on Easter Monday, to kick off the summer, just as it’s been doing since 1956. Located in the pretty village of Isfield in rural East Sussex, the beer race is the main event of a full day of activities which includes an Easter Egg Hunt and the Lemonade Race – a shorter version of the beer race for the kids.

So, to the details. It costs £2 to enter the “Tommy Trot”, which goes to the RNLI. Entrants have to walk through the village from the pub to the Mill and back, with half a pint of finest local Isfield Brewing Co. ale, (kindly donated) without spilling it. That’s a distance of 1.5 miles, which can be thirsty work on a sunny Spring day! Speed isn’t important, as the winner is the person who returns with the most beer, accurately weighed out on scales by the landlord at the end, although there is a time limit of 35 mins so you do need to keep a steady pace up.

The weight of a full to brim half pint of beer was recorded as 292 grams. The winning lad this year brought back 269 grams which was pretty impressive to me, as you could barely notice the difference between his glass and a full one. His prize – a bottle of bubbly and his name to be inscribed on the trophy along with all the past greats from 1956.

I think it’s the first beer race I’ve been to that doesn’t encourage vast quantities of the stuff to be drunk, but there was plenty of time for that afterwards (and before of course, if you weren’t too worried about the effects that would have on your performance). Great stuff!