{"id":338732,"date":"2026-06-16T19:05:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/338732\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T19:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:05:08","slug":"bernard-wins-2026-corpus-christi-tortoise-race-the-oxford-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/338732\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernard wins 2026 Corpus Christi Tortoise Race \u2013 The Oxford Student"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bernard the Tortoise won the 2026 Corpus Christi Tortoise Race on 7 June, emerging victorious from all three sub-races.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the event traditionally consists of a single race, Corpus Christi porter James Serjeant introduced a last-minute \u201cbest of three\u201d format after Bernard won the opening round in approximately 10 seconds, thanks to a smaller-than-usual lettuce ring around the contestants.<\/p>\n

Bernard is taken care of\u00a0 by Corpus Christi Bursar Mr Luke Webster<\/a> and is thus considered \u201cCorpus-adjacent,\u201d according to Corpus tortoise keeper Vivi Alabaster. The college\u2019s\u00a0 official tortoise, Foxe<\/a>, also competed in this year\u2019s\u00a0 race, having won the 2013<\/a> and 2025 iterations.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Bernard\u2019s victory should be counted as a win or loss for Corpus Christi, Alabaster explained: \u201cBernard and Foxe are brothers-in-arms. For tortoise races, it\u2019s them together against everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tortoises Wendy from Balliol, Kale<\/a> from Nuffield, and Truffle from Regent\u2019s Park rounded out the field.<\/p>\n

Bernard the Tortoise won the 2026 Corpus Christi Tortoise Race on 7 June, emerging victorious from all three sub-races.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The race, first held in 1974, has become one of Oxford\u2019s more idiosyncratic Trinity term traditions. It forms a key part of Corpus Christi\u2019s 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 \u2013 the 2026 event raised \u00a35,700 for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Oxfordshire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u2019s in 2023, and Tortilla of Lincoln in 2022.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Archie and New\u2019s Tessa.<\/p>\n

Bernard\u2019s 2026 win follows Foxe\u2019s 2025 victory in giving Corpus, or at least \u201cCorpus-adjacent\u201d tortoises, a rare back-to-back claim to victory. \u201cIt was a great competition, and I\u2019m very happy that we managed to bring home another Corpus win during my tenure as Custos Testudinum [tortoise keeper],\u201d Alabaster stated.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 2026 result adds another chapter to a race that has become a fixture of Trinity term, with Bernard shellacking the competition.<\/p>\n

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