Situated between sports and folklore, a race of draught-horses entitled “The Road of the Fish” celebrates the history of the transportation of fish from Boulogne-sur-Mer to Paris. The ethnography of this competitive event depicting the toils of old, centres on two questions: is the dominating culture of sports a useful tool for the history of labour in our ways of working and producing? Are we witnessing a mongrel version of a sporting practice: sports in the service of the conservation of our cultural heritage?