All-Comers Track Meet

When I was young, I remember my parents taking us to the All-Comer’s track meets at the college.  It was fun to run the races and bring home some ribbons.  On Wednesday, we headed out to an All-Comer’s track meet in Hillsboro so the boys could experience it too.

On our way out, we stopped at the Farmer’s Market for some fresh berries.  Davis and James love to put the raspberries on their fingers to eat them!  It was a good refreshing treat before the races.

 

 

It was pretty hot when we first go there, but luckily the sun soon went behind some buildings so we were in the shade. Shane had to work late, but my friend Kara came with me. She helped to take Davis to some of the field events with the younger kids while I went with Landon.

The first event Landon tried was the long jump. 

Davis meanwhile did the high jump with Kara, so I will have to get some pictures from her of that.  Landon then wanted to try the 50m hurdles.  He wasn’t super fast on that one, but it was his first time running hurdles, and his first race overall, so he was a little cautious.  The picture of him is towards the end when he was a little more confident jumping the hurdles.

The next race both Landon and Davis competed in – the 200m.  They both did really well, even though this one was a little bit longer!  I was worried they would go too fast at the first and then run out of steam at the end, but they both paced it really well. 

 

Landon in the green on the top left, and Davis in the red on the right.

 

We had a little wait after that for our next race, so Landon tried out the discus, and all three boys played around practicing their long jumps.

 

The next event they tried was the 50m.  This one was only for kids six and under.  James went first, and there were only three boys in his age group.  He walked up with me to the starting line, and I stood there by him and held his hand.  As soon as they said go, he started crying and reaching for me.  I think he thought I was going to leave him by himself like I had with Landon and Davis!  I tried to put him down, but he wouldn’t go for it, so I finally just carried him down the track while he was clinging to me and crying to get his 3rd place ribbon! 

Davis did much better, and he was starting to really get the running competitive drive.  He ran as hard as he could and pulled in a second place!  I didn’t get any pictures of this race. 

The last race of the night for us was the 100m.  I asked James if he wanted to try it, but you can imagine he wasn’t happy about even the suggestion.  Landon and Davis were both excited for one more run.  Davis ran hard and placed second again (yes, he was running with only three boys and the rest were girls, but he still ran hard!).

 

Landon, by this point, really wanted something other than a participant’s ribbon, especially with Davis’s two second-place finishes.  Unfortunately, all of his 7-year-old competitors were staying around, and they were fierce competitors.  Landon ran as hard as he could, and it was neck and neck.  As he came across the finish line, he said, “Mom, I got third!”  I thought he maybe had too, but they handed him a participant’s ribbon.  I overheard one spectator say, “That was a photo finish!”  They just have high school student volunteers watching them come across the line and handing out ribbons, so it’s not too accurate.  He was a little disappointed, but still glad he ran so hard.  (He’s the in the second lane from the right)

 

We had a great time and will definitely have to do it again.  This was the last one for the summer, so we’ll have to start out a little earlier next summer.  Yay for ribbons!

  

I wanted to get James in the shot above, but he was just interested in spinning around with his ribbon.  He wouldn’t even look at me for a picture.