Good weather and careful irrigation ensured a great crop of Little Scarlet strawberries this year and an opportunity for a record pick which was achieved by Mr Marian Tiuga from Romania with a haul of 8.4 kilos in one hour. He was closely followed by Mrs Uulzhan Dolotbekova from Kyrgyzstan who gathered 8.3 kilos, an amazing achievement.
During the Tiptree Strawberry Race farm workers, guest pickers and teams from the factory and office compete to find the fastest pickers. This year the Fastest winning team was “With Insight” from Soft Fruit Direct and the Fastest Home team were “Quick Hands” from the jam factory. A huge effort went into creating some remarkable ’40s themed outfits to add a little glamour to the strawberry field.
June 2025 marks milestone events at Tiptree:
140 years of jam making at Tiptree
139 years of growing Little Scarlet strawberries
21 years of the Tiptree Strawberry Race
Commenting on the speed of the pickers Walter Scott, Chairman of Wilkin & Sons, spoke about this unique event and wondered how long it would be before we would see a robotic picker trying to complete, it would be many years at reach Marian Tiuga’s speed he thought.
Tiptree First Responders were this year’s charity, they were thanked for their service to the community by Chris Newenham, joint managing director and in reply Kevin Kelly and Malcom Over thanked friends at the company for their support.
After the weigh-in the Little Scarlets were taken across the farm to the cold store and jam factory to be made into this season’s jam and replenish the empty shelves.
Results:
Fastest Individual Picker – Winner = Mr Marian Tiuga from Romania with a world record total of 8.4 kilos
Fastest Individual Picker – Runner Up = Mrs Uulzhan Dolotbekova from Kyrgyzstan with total of 8.3 kilos
Fastest Visiting Team – Winner = “With insight” - Soft Fruit Direct
Fastest Home Team – Winner = “Quick Hands” - the Jam Factory team
Best Dressed Visiting Team = MM Wealth
Best Dressed Home Team = HR and Sales team
Best Dressed Individual – Runner Up = Julie Edington
Best Dressed Individual – Winner = Sandy Ridpath
