Visitors look, as snails compete in a speed racing contest during the local village event 'Pumpkins and snails of Novoe Pole' in the village Novoe Pole some 30 km from Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 22, 2018. EPA-EFE/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

A snail competes in a speed racing contest during the local village event 'Pumpkins and snails of Novoe Pole' in the village Novoe Pole some 30 km from Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 22, 2018. EPA-EFE/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

Visitors look, as snails compete in a speed racing contest during the local village event 'Pumpkins and snails of Novoe Pole' in the village Novoe Pole some 30 km from Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 22, 2018. EPA-EFE/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

Snails compete in a speed racing contest during the local village event 'Pumpkins and snails of Novoe Pole' in the village Novoe Pole some 30 km from Minsk, Belarus, Sept. 22, 2018. EPA-EFE/TATYANA ZENKOVICH

Residents of a village not far from the Belorussian capital put an escargatoire of snails head to head in a slow and slimy race Saturday.

An efe-epa photographer reporting from the village of Novoe Pole, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) outside Minsk, watched as land snails glided on oozy mucus emanating from their foot across the top of a large wooden spool painted to resemble a racecourse.

The competing gastropods were each assigned their own number, which was placed on the shell, and gathered in the white center circle.

From there it was a race to the edge of the wooden top where the first one to cross the finishing line wins.