On Saturday the 7 GRZ (government) schools in my zone gathered to have the annual inter-schools athletics competition, which is pretty much a track & field day. I’ve posted photos in the Manje Zonal Schools Album (facebook.) I played the role of chief judge, as I did last year, to help maintain unbiased score keeping. I did have to cheer on my family members when they competed in some events of course! The sandy track surrounding the playing ground (soccer pitch) was neatly etched in seven individual lanes with a stick and filled in with ash to distinguish each lane the day before in preparation. Before any of the events took place we had a teacher meeting in one of the classrooms to organize who would judge at the finish line, those who would be record keepers, order of events etc. so everything ran pretty smoothly. Some of the pupils and teachers had walked as far as 18k to get to Mwala Basic that day for the events and we wanted to mind time so they could walk back before sundown. Imagine walking that far and then participating in racing events, these kids are strong! Though you could tell by the outcome of certain schools in the races that some of them were steamed. Many of the children brought things like bananas, fritters (like donuts), candies, and sugar cane to sell and eat throughout the day as part of the festivities. Everyone had a good time rooting for their schoolmates and teachers teasing each other as to which school had the strongest pupils.

These were the events (boys and girls separately):
Open Races
1200m
800m
400m
100m
60m
4x100m
4x400m
Long Jump
High Jump

It was a fun filled day! Enjoy the photos!