DAMSON HURDLE HUDDLE RACE - A.O.G. DAY 12

The Snail contingent thought they were having a rest day today, especially as it had been so hot overnight, but Sammy was told by the Judges that they were all suitably qualified to take part in the Damson Hurdle Huddle race, as long as they could get down to the track by 8 a.m.

It took Sammy a while to get everyone out of bed and showered and of course, the teenagers grumbled and groused as usual, saying that they would have to have a shower after the race, so what was the point of having one before as well.  Typical teenagers, but Sammy was insistent that they had to be clean and tidy so that they wouldn’t let the team down.

When they got to the track, they were surprised to see that several of the bird teams had already had their turn, but unfortunately, hadn’t made the semi-finals because instead of going OVER the hurdles, they had eaten some of them.  That meant instant disqualification so it just left the snails in a good position to get another Gold Medal.

Watching from the sidelines, it was obvious that some of the snails just didn’t get it - they should have been slithering along towards the Finish line and going over the hurdles but instead they were slithering over each other.  I heard several snails shouting, “Get off my back, you slithering idiot!”  but when Sammy heard these comments, he immediately gave a Yellow Card to those who shouted and reminded them that they needed to clean up their act.  He told them it was bad enough getting snail spit all over the track and the hurdles, but there was no need to be rude.  In fact, I also heard him say that anyone who shouted again would immediately be sent off.  I could tell that the heat had got to them all, but Sammy wasn’t putting up with bad behaviour from anyone, even if they were hot and bothered.

Thankfully, they were in the shade this morning, and once they got into their stride, they had a great time and found that there were plenty of opportunities to jump over the damson hurdles and sometimes even over some of their team members.

After the issues he had had in the Stationary Stakes on Monday, it was good to see that Siegfried won the Damson Hurdle Huddle Race today and you can see him at the bottom of the Collage.  I was able to interview Siegfried just before he went to the podium to receive his Gold Medal and asked him how he had managed to turn things around.  He said that he had appreciated the pep talks from Sammy and today he felt he just had to “Go for it!” so he did just that.  He did tell me that they would all be resting for the remainder of the day, because they weren’t sure what races they would be taking part in tomorrow.

“WINNING IS FUN…SURE
But winning is not the point,
     wanting to win is the point.
Not giving up is the point,
     never letting up is the point.
Never being satisfied with
     what you’ve done is the point.”
Pat Summit