Olney, England ? Andrea Rawlings raced to her third straight win Tuesday in the English leg of the annual trans-Atlantic pancake race, snapping a string of seven straight victories by runners in Liberal, Kan.

Rawlings ran the 415-yard course in Olney, England, nearly five seconds faster than 22-year-old Erin Loewen, who won the American leg in a time of 1 minute, 8.13 seconds.

The Shrove Tuesday pancake race is a tradition between the women of Olney, 50 miles northwest of London, and their counterparts in Liberal.

Olney and Liberal each hold the race at 11:55 a.m. local time, meaning the American women knew what time they had to beat. In the Kansas leg, Chrissy Davis, 29, led a field of 11 runners until she fell down with 10 yards to go.

That enabled Loewen, a first-time runner and a teacher at Liberal High School, to capture the victory on an unseasonably warm day in southwest Kansas.

Rawlings, a part-time saddler, led a field of 15 apron-clad contestants who set off to the sound of the church warden’s bell, covering the 415 yards from Olney market place to the local church carrying a pancake in a frying pan.

Competitors take part in the annual Shrove Tuesday pancake race in Olney, England, on Tuesday. According to legend, the Olney race began on Shrove Tuesday in 1445. Liberal, Kan., challenged Olney to a friendly competition in 1950 after seeing a photograph of the race.

“I haven’t managed to do much preparation this year,” the 32-year-old Rawlings said, panting hard after turning in a time of 1 minute, 3.76 seconds on a cold but sunny day.

The women are required to flip their pancakes before the start of the race and again at the end to prove they haven’t dropped the delicacies.

Shrove Tuesday, widely known in Britain as Pancake Day, was traditionally the last day for merrymaking before the start of Lent. Pancakes were thought to be a good way for the Christian faithful to consume the fat they were supposed to forgo during the period of self-denial.

Erin Loewen won the American leg of the annual trans-Atlantic pancake race in Liberal, although she was about five seconds slower than the winner in Olney, England.

Legend has it that the Olney race started in 1445 when a harassed housewife, rushing to be on time for church, arrived at the service still clutching her frying pan with a pancake in it.

After a lapse during World War II, the race was revived in 1948.

Liberal challenged Olney to a friendly trans-Atlantic competition in 1950 after seeing a picture of the race in a magazine.