Donkey cart beats out Porsche in Portuguese road race

LISBON (AFP) - A donkey cart beat a Porsche in a race held in a northern Portuguese city over the weekend to see which mode of transportation could best handle car congestion.

The cart, pulled by a seven-year-old donkey named Tironi, was the first to reach the port city of Viana do Castelo from the suburb of Areosa some two kilometres (just over one mile) away, Jornal de Noticias newspaper reported Monday.

Viana do Castelo opposition city councillor Antonio Jose Amaral, who helped organize the challenge held Sunday, said the result proved the need to build a ring road around the city of some 36,000 people.

"Unfortunately the donkey ended up winning. This mode of transportation is not from our era but it looks like the get around Viana do Castelo we have to go back in time," he said.

City officials have rejected the need for the construction of a ring road arguing there are no major traffic problems in the city.

"If they knew what traffic is like in big metropolisis they would shut up so as not to seem ridiculous," the councillor in charge of traffic, Rogerio Barreto, said.