Bernard the Tortoise won the 2026 Corpus Christi Tortoise Race on 7 June, emerging victorious from all three sub-races.
Although the event traditionally consists of a single race, Corpus Christi porter James Serjeant introduced a last-minute “best of three” format after Bernard won the opening round in approximately 10 seconds, thanks to a smaller-than-usual lettuce ring around the contestants.
Bernard is taken care of by Corpus Christi Bursar Mr Luke Webster and is thus considered “Corpus-adjacent,” according to Corpus tortoise keeper Vivi Alabaster. The college’s official tortoise, Foxe, also competed in this year’s race, having won the 2013 and 2025 iterations.
Asked whether Bernard’s victory should be counted as a win or loss for Corpus Christi, Alabaster explained: “Bernard and Foxe are brothers-in-arms. For tortoise races, it’s them together against everyone else.”
Tortoises Wendy from Balliol, Kale from Nuffield, and Truffle from Regent’s Park rounded out the field.
Bernard the Tortoise won the 2026 Corpus Christi Tortoise Race on 7 June, emerging victorious from all three sub-races.
The race, first held in 1974, has become one of Oxford’s more idiosyncratic Trinity term traditions. It forms a key part of Corpus Christi’s annual Tortoise Fair, a charity event in which tortoises from across Oxford colleges compete to be the first to reach a lettuce-lined finish and students sell tortoise-themed goods. The fair produces suitable reward – the 2026 event raised £5,700 for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Oxfordshire.
Although Corpus Christi hosts the annual race, victory has often been celebrated elsewhere: recent winners have included Kale of Nuffield in 2024, Aristurtle of St Peter’s in 2023, and Tortilla of Lincoln in 2022.
In recent years, the number of tortoises competing in the race has declined, thus leading to the absence of some veteran tortoises, such as Wadham’s Archie and New’s Tessa.
Bernard’s 2026 win follows Foxe’s 2025 victory in giving Corpus, or at least “Corpus-adjacent” tortoises, a rare back-to-back claim to victory. “It was a great competition, and I’m very happy that we managed to bring home another Corpus win during my tenure as Custos Testudinum [tortoise keeper],” Alabaster stated.
The 2026 result adds another chapter to a race that has become a fixture of Trinity term, with Bernard shellacking the competition.
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