Waiter racing for first place in the 2022 Soho competition
Credit: The Soho Society /fb
Waiters in London this Sunday, July 21, competed against each other to prove their serving skills.
Soho saw nearly 50 professional servers come from all around to compete in the annual waiters’ race.
The Waiters Race
This was no ordinary footrace though, these athletes had to prove their skills as a server.
The waiters had to navigate the course, lined out by the excited and mostly drunk crowd, as quickly as they could while sporting a waiter uniform and carrying a tray loaded with a wine glass, a bottle of fizz, an ashtray and a napkin.
Like any competition, rules applied; breaking anything on the tray during the race disqualifies the contestant, and cheating using two hands on the tray or adhesive also leads to disqualification.
Like any race, this is about speed, but as Takashi O’Rourke, the organiser, describes it, “This is about style as much as it is about going fast”.
Contestants prepared
Minutes before the start contestants could be seen stretching and squat-jumping, getting their hearts pumping in anticipation.
Marco Selver, one of the contestants, told the New York Times “I’m making sure I’m loose and ready to go” adding that this was “the Olympics for us waiters”.
A long-lasting tradition
The competition pits pubs and restaurants in London against each other, with a waiter representing the establishment, although they compete individually. A version of this waiters race has been around since at least the mid-1950s and continues to grow as the years go on.
The race was hosted by the Soho Society, a charity in London, and included cash prizes, with the first-place prize being 100 pounds, as well as a costume contest which was awarded to the winners at the end.
The race was the main feature of the 49th Soho fete, a typically British outdoor public function, which included live music, good food and other fun activities throughout the day, including tug of war, a spaghetti-eating contest and a dog show.
Celebration of culture
The race is meant to celebrate an often low-paying and overlooked profession, with an emphasis on Soho and a celebration of its culture and residents.
Time Lord, the chair of the Soho Society, said that they re “trying to assert character and individuality in an increasingly bland and generic world of city centres”
At the end, all contestants who passed the finish line celebrated their achievement by popping the cork and spraying their hard-earned Prosecco over themeselves and the crowd in one big collaborative celebration.
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Originally from the UK, Harry Sinclair is a journalist and freelance writer based in Almeria covering local stories and international news, with a keen interest in arts and culture. If you have a news story please feel free to get in touch at [email protected].
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