The udderly unpredictable Swiss Cow Grand Prix

AND they're off! To the thunder of hooves, a chorus of moos and the clanking of bells, nine cows hurtle away in one of the oddest events in the Swiss Alps: the Cow Grand Prix, contested exclusively by women jockeys.

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The prize on offer: a 40km bag of feed for the winner, a traditional Alpine cowbell, a bouquet of flowers and a whole lot of local pride.

The race is held in Flumserberg, a village more than 1 300m up in the mountains above the picturesque Wahlensee lake, close to Switzerland's eastern border with tiny Liechtenstein.

The event began in 2006 and is the highlight of autumn festivities in Flumserberg, held alongside a cheese market in the final weeks before snow turns the ski station's green pastures white.

The cows' foreheads are decorated with flowers. However, they are only put on at the last minute, because the cows "love to eat them", said Rolf Blumer from the "Heidiland" tourism office, which represents the region associated with the eponymous heroine of Johanna Spyri's 1880s novel.

The start and finish line for Sunday's two-lap race was marked on the grass with a line of hay..