A trans-Atlantic pancake race has taken a battering due to a technological glitch.

Apron-clad women carrying and flipping pancakes in their pans have run through the English town of Olney in an annual Shrove Tuesday race that pits the community against the town of Liberal, Kansas.

But the timer failed, so no official time was recorded for winner Kaia Larkas and there will be no showdown with Liberal, which runs its race later.

Shrove Tuesday, known in Britain as Pancake Day, was traditionally the last day for merrymaking before the start of Lent.

According to legend, the Olney race started in 1445 when a harried housewife arrived at church still clutching her frying pan with a pancake in it. Liberal challenged Olney in 1950 after seeing photos of the race in a magazine.