#CountryKids at the Hodder Valley Show

My son had a championship fell race at the Hodder Valley Show in Yorkshire on Saturday so he and I went on a mystery drive down south powered by Google Maps. It was a relief to make it on a wet and misty day. As it was raining we headed straight into the main marquee to check out the stalls. My son spent quite a while building a dry stone wall at the Forest of Bowland stand:

Once the rain paused we went outside to see what was happening in the main show ring. Being an agricultural show there were a lot of competitions for various farm animals including cattle:

One of our favourite parts was the sheep section as we could get up close to a wide variety of sheep breeds:

My son was impressed by the size of the horns on the rams:

Of course he was keen to get in the bouncy dome and jump around:

Just as we grabbed an early lunch it bucketed down so we took cover in the beer tent:

Luckily before Inch Perfect came on to perform their trial bike stunts it had stopped raining:

Eventually the fell racing got under way after a bit of a delay. Here are some of the Helm Hill Juniors ready to race:

Before the juniors headed off the seniors set off on their 7 mile route:

Then the juniors had their races. The under 12s ran 1 kilometre and the under 18s ran further. After all the rain it was a soggy course but that didn't stop my son and his club mates from putting on a good effort:

The course took them up the hill and they soon vanished from view:

With such a small field the club won all the age categories they had entered and came second in two as well. This is my son coming in to win the under 10 boys:

They are such a competitive bunch that these two gave us an entertaining sprint for the line:

Just prove how muddy it was this was the state of my son when he finished:

I think the juniors were pleased with themselves for their great running:

As we had to wait for the awards we had time to enjoy the grand parade and see the animals that had won including this magnificent Shire Horse:

Then it was time for the children to receive their prizes for the races. This is my son collecting his:

I was so glad that I hadn't found my wellies in the morning but at least I had my hiking boots to get caked in mud...

Back in Kendal my son and I walked into town to the party celebrating the awards from Torchlight. At least by then it was glorious weather: