Slug racing battle near Tetbury (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Slug racing battle near Tetbury

IT was a race against slime as the little known sport of slug racing made its UK debut this week.

Three specially selected slugs battled it out at one of the country's biggest agricultural events, Tillage 2005 which was held at Bowldown Farms near Tetbury.

The event was organised by slug bait manufacturer De Sangosse to find out which bait slugs like the most.

The competitors were given half and hour to get down a specially designed metre-long track.

Sales and marketing manager Jean-Fraois Testut said: "We are keen to illustrate how important it is that farmers use a bait that is attractive enough to draw slugs away from vulnerable emerging crops."

But he said care would be taken that none of the competitors were hurt in the competition.

He said: "Metarex is highly selective, but deadly to slugs, so we made sure none of our finely-honed racing specimen actually consumes the bait."

Slug racing is a popular sport in the Pacific Northwest but this is thought to be the first time an official race has been held in this country.