VIDEO: Valentine’s pancake madness in Littlehampton

Pirates, parrots, toddlers, charities and businesses all teamed up to take part in this year’s Pancake Olympics in The High Street.

And for the first time ever, there was a Valentine’s theme to the proceedings, with enough tasty heart-shaped pancakes to whet even Cupid’s tastebuds.

The games, organised by Littlehampton Town Council and now in their seventh year, saw teams competing in either cupid curling, romantic relay or flirty flipping. Over the course of almost three hours, squads accrued points, with the overall winners claiming £100 for their charity of choice.

And after some high-energy encounters, the coveted golden frying pan went to the team from the Elmcroft Care Home, in Shoreham, beating last year’s champions, Enable Me.

Asish Sewoke, of the home’s drivers’ team, secured the best score of the day during the flirty flipping – an impressive 66 – and stormed home to victory in the romantic relay alongside running partner Brian Donald.

Asish said: “It was nice because we got to do this for the residents at the home.”

Fellow flipping competitor Raphael Laviers celebrated his 13th birthday the day before and was taking part in the event alongside Asish for the Littlehampton Baptists Church.

The youngster, who donned a multicoloured wig for the day, helped in clinching a bronze pan during the pancake-tossing contest, with a solid score of 56 flips in 30 seconds.

Speaking after the competition, Raphael said: “It’s been pretty exciting. It’s good to have taken part because I have been in America and Canada for the past couple of years. Our team had lost everything until this so it feels really good to have won something.”

The cheeky teen joked that he was keen to try to toss a pancake in the newly-won bronze pan.

Even Littlehampton’s mayor, councillor Jill Long, was guilty of getting in on the action.

Jill took part in the curling event, accompanied by her trusty ‘sweep’ and fellow town councillor, Carol Emberson.

“It was more of a challenge than I realised,” she said. “Having to keep the chain out the way was quite tricky. But it gave me a great experience. I feel quite tempted to try and set up a team of councillors to take part in next year’s Olympics.”

The overall runners-up were Jamie’s Wish, who won £50 for their chosen charity, curtesy of sponsors Leaders Estate Agents, while the Chestnuts from Chestnut Tree House came third, claiming the £25 bronze prize, provided by the Fish Factory.

All the teams competing were helping to raise cash for charity. The day was supported by Sainsbury’s Littlehampton and Titan Storage, which sponsored the top prize.