Good sports?

We live here in Chiang Mai on the site of the Karen Baptist Convention's Bible School.  One of the highlights of the year is the annual Bible School Sports Day, which took place last week.

Team Matthew (left, in red) and Team Mark (right, in blue)

After dividing into 4 teams - Matthew, Mark, Luke... and Teachers (!), the games began. The morning programme was fairly traditional - football for the boys, volleyball for the girls and a 5km run for everyone.

 But the afternoon is where the fun really begins.  No good Thai sports day is without an eating contest - and this was no exception.  The competitors began with a plate of snacks including a hard boiled egg, a wrapped pastry, orange juice, sticky rice and a banana.

The looks of concentration on the athletes' faces was intense - and it quickly became apparent that strategic decisions about what to eat first were vitally important.  The food race ended with an old classic - retrieving a sweet buried in a plate of flour.

The big surprise this year, however, was a brand new competition - lawn mowing.  Each team was given a strip of grass to mow - they were given marks for speed, and for the quality of the cut.

The race leader - and eventual champion - of the lawn mowing contest

The Sports Day eventually finished with a lot of water balloons and 50 worn-out students!  (And, of course, a neatly mown lawn... this was well planned!)