Historically a day where the cursed Minotaur tribes release any prisoners they may be holding and give them an hour’s head start then pursue them en masse across the plains, any caught were either killed or enslaved once more. Nowadays, the event is only held in the Minotaur settlement of Pamplaxia, high in the Mithral Mountains.
The modern version of a previously savage festival was brought about by the interference of Pythor during his reign as king of Mytros. In the days before one Evlogifermin, growing bored by his duties as king, Pythor went on a drunken journey out of the city and ended up in Pamplaxia where his drunken antics found him at odds with rather sober Minotaurs who lived there. After a day of unruly merriment, the wine took a toll on Pythor’s mighty endurance and he fell asleep in a horse trough. Seizing the opportunity, the Minotaurs imprisoned Pythor. When he awoke he swore an oath that if he was released as per the festival and if any adult minotaur reached Estoria before him, he would not attempt to escape from captivity ever again. However, if he did get back to Estoria before any Minotaur could, the town of Pamplaxia would no longer be allowed to take any prisoners.
The Minotaurs knew they had some of the fastest runners in all of Thylea and that Pythor had taken a whole two days previously to drunkenly make his way to the village. They agreed. The prisoners were released and most sprinted away from Pamplaxia towards Estoria, except Pythor, who walked a few hundred yards to the bridge that linked Pamplaxia to the only route down the mountains and waited. As the second horn signalled the minotaur’s pursuit they began to run down the narrow and steep streets of Pamplaxia, only to have to approach the bridge only two abreast. Here, Pythor took his vengeance. Planting his feet and spreading his arms wide, Pythor grappled the first set of minotaurs on the bridge and held them from advancing, as more and more minotaurs grew involved in pushing Pythor back, the horns of the first two dug deep into his arms. Pythor's blood began to flow until it covered Pythor, the Bridge and most of the minotaurs. As the sun set on that Evlogifermin, the minotaurs were all exhausted and collapsed while Pythor’s mighty vigour allowed him to run home to Estoria.
However, the story did not end there as one young Minotaur, Navarrus; yet to grow horns that saw his brethren struggling against Pythor’s strength. He snuck down a narrow sheep trail only the most nimble and sure-footed could traverse. It was a longer route but he made it to Estoria before Pythor. Pythor was almost inconsolable when he learned that he had lost. It was the wisdom of Vallus that saved him from eternal imprisonment, for she argued that Navarrus was not yet an adult and thus no adult Minotaur did reach Estoria before him. Vallus, being wise in all things, knew that for the Minotaurs of Pamplaxia to accept this they would need to find their own loophole. Sending her sister Kyrah in disguise to Pamplaxia, Kyrah disclosed the knowledge that the Minotaurs of Pamplaxia could still imprison those not of age, much like Navarrus was Pythor’s excuse, teenagers could still be held captive.
Thus a new tradition in the spirit of cooperation between Estoria and Pamplaxia grew. Every year teenagers from Estoria make their way to Pamplaxia where they make themselves a public nuisance, hurl insults and act without care. They are ritually imprisoned for the night and released at the next dawn. The teenagers are tasked to run from Pamplaxia to the spot where Pythor held his ground while being chased by the Minotaur residents of Pamplaxia. Along the way they are pelted with tomatoes to symbolise the blood Pythor lost. Those that make it to the bridge are sent back to Estoria with gifts of bread and honey while those that are caught assist the town with their labour for a season until they become an adult. Many teenagers purposefully ‘lose’ the race to have a season away from their families, the work they do a form of employment with the wages they earn sent back with the adolescents.