Sports Day...

We can now bring you a report from Kirknewton.

Conditions were perfect today for the annual village school sports day games. As usual the event took place on the school field with all classes from p7 to nursery taking part. Spectators included the normal array of parents and grandparents complete with camera's and camcorders to capture the action. Many of the male spectators had taken the day off work to attend the event and much was mentioned about how they may have prefered to be at home watching World Cup football.

In line with the nice weather the competitors were without their tracksuit bottoms for the morning's activities but many took the precaution of bringing out their tracksuit tops in order to keep their muscles warmed up during breaks. Aged between 4 and 12 the athletes were sporting a variety of sponsors on their clothing this year. There seemed to be a larger number than usual sporting Addidas clothing, however, Next still seemed to be the sponsor of choice particularly amongst the female contingent. They also proved popular in footwear but there was an increase in the numbers wearing K Swiss on their feet.

P7 girls kicked off the days with their flat race, a battle of the fastest over 80 metres, followed closely by the P7 boys event in the same race. This pattern continued throughout the school with each class participating in each event. Their was a hint of cheating in the egg and spoon race featuring the P5 boys as one competitor was seen bending their spoon in a bid to make it more likely to keep the egg in place. He was found out though and a replacement spoon was drafted in. High drama followed in the P2 girls hoop race when 2 athletes forgot to go through the hoop and ran straight past them. However, they went unseen by the referee and were awarded the points much to the amusement of the crowd.

Tears were seen as some competitors became upset after they lost their races. The blame for their lack of form was placed with their Mum's who had shouted their names in encouragement just seconds before the starter shouted "go". This it was felt had put them off and gave them a poor start. The Mum's involved (this reporter was not one of them!) were advised to shut up before the start of future races.

It became clear that much thought had gone into the pairings for the three legged race with competitors being matched up not only in pairs according to their house groups but also in size as well. There was a good result here for P5 girls as 9 year old Chloe and her partner, the taller but equally as co-ordinated Brittany stormed to second in an impressive showing. This year's surprise package came in the form of P1, in this their first full showing in the tournament. 5 year old newcomer Jake took an early bronze in the flat race and his classmate Fern showed she will be a force to be reckoned with heading to victory in 4 events.

The morning's events over then, it was time for a break and when the athletes reconvened for the afternoon potted sports, a team event based on their houses, the sun was shining and the heat was really taking a toll. The 130 or so competitors were spilt into teams to undertake such tasks as hurdles, tug of war, caber tossing, shot putting and wellie throwing. The spectators followed the events with a walk round the field to cheer their favourites on to victories..or just to chat to other spectators. The day drew to a close at 3pm and the headmaster gathered the athletes on the playground to reveal the winning teams. There were cheers as the results were announced. Team 2 proved to be the outright winners earning a massive 934 points for their house. Team 2 were made up of about 12 children from all classes and included newcomer Jake and his best friend Charlie. Both were jumping for joy at the result. Emotion obviouslyy got the better of team 2 who had to be brought back to earth with a quiet word from the assistant head.

The results of the overall house team winner will not be known now until Thursday following completion of the remaining events which include high Jump, Football and Hockey tournaments.

Many are concerned about this final outcome and it is considered that the schools decisions not to place families in the same house may result in fighting within homes when the outcome is released. Especially as there has already been some bickering when team 2 members took the mickey out of their siblings in team 9 who came third.

So from a warm and sunny village in West Lothian I will hand you back to the studio.

Jenny xx