Not actually a race, but takes place each June in the North Yorkshire village of Brawby (whose name is thought to be derived from the Danish god of poetry, Braggi), where for centuries the citizens were immune from arrest or punishment from the local sherriff's officers.
There is a tour of the city, and then the race itself, in which five junior oarsfolk, dressed in brightly coloured safety gear, paddle valiantly aboard pudding vessels in a bid to save "The Thing" from the grasps of a temple of doom, aka "The Shad". The race starts, but does not finish, really.
Dreamed up in a pub by sculptor Simon Thackeray along with his friend, the poet Ian McMillan. who mythologised Thackeray's plan. Possibly inspired by Edward Lear's The Jumblies, and the question "Wouldn't it be great to sail down the river in a giant Yorkshire pudding?"
The recipe for one 3 foot wide boat comprises 50 eggs, four bags of flour, 25 pints of milk, all beaten and baked, lined with industrial foam-filler and given its characteristic glossy finish with layers of yacht varnish.
gathered from news reports