The Race of the Ruling Snail

The Gubtom tribe of Gnomes are widely known for their snails. Each year, at the end of the yearly harvest, the whole tribe holds a great feast to celebrate the years yield. At some point in the evening the Race of The Ruling Snail is held.
Any gnome can enter the race. All the applicants enter what they believe to be their best snail. The snails are then all lined up and required to run a race of 15 meter. The owner of the winning snail is assigned to be the leader of the tribe for the next year.

History

The Race is as old as the Gubtom tribe itself. During the first harvest festival the tribe held, a few gnomes got much too deep into their drinks and decided that it would be a good idea to race the largest snails from their families estates. This became a yearly tradition. After about 3 or 4 years of doing this the gnomes realised that it was usually the gnome with the most successful harvest that won the race. They concluded that the gnomes with the greatest snail rearing skill must own the fastest snail and therefore be the most qualified to manage the tribe. From then on the aspect of the race that assigns the winner as the tribes leader for the following year was added to the tradition.

Execution

A call is made for any willing gnomes to enter their snails. Each gnome is only allowed to enter one snail and it has to be a snail that was raised on their own farm. There would be no buying speedy snails a few days prior. The snails are then lined up and a saucepan is struck. This indicates the race has started. Whether the snails would start moving immediately was an entirely unrelated. It would sometimes take up to an hour for the first snail to make it over the finish line.