Last year I officiated for the Central Surrey Schools District Sports day at the Kingsmeadow athletics track in Kingston. I remembered it as being quite fun, with schools such as Box Hill and the Ashcombe in Dorking, so I was quite happy and had the time to timekeep for them today.
We were all expecting really high temperatures today..weren't we? I love the sun but was actually quite happy for the clouds even though I still slapped on the factor 20 or 30 (us immunesuppressed peeps are high risk to skin cancers amongst other things). The only female with just two years experience, in a group of 8 very experienced timekeepers (probably with about 100 years experience between them - I kid you not!), I was happy to hold my own and had a lovely day.
I've said before that one of the reasons I like timekeeping is the wonderful people you meet and the stories you hear. Today I worked with a gentleman who's partner "Dorothy", won "The Weakest Link" on Monday! She had been accepted as a reserve about a year ago and then didn't hear anything for ages. And then had to travel up to Scotland-became one of the "links" - and won... Well Done Dorothy!
Athletics is taken very seriously by officials, and them rules is rules! However, my favourite event, as I'm sure most of the children's were too, was the 1500m steeple chase. Last year two young lads dressed up; one with a pair of kiddies arm bands and the other, with a rubber ring. All the kids sat at the edge of the track by the water jump...and cheered as these two dived into the water off the heavy barriers.
Picture of a steeplechase waterjump in 1908
Today, the race was just as fun but without the dress up, and two lads (again) trailed at the back, jumping from the barrier in an almighty belly flop into the water. The crowds loved it, and there was lots of laughter from the officials as well!
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