Rudy began to howl. ‘I’m so sorry, Ugenia. I messed it up!’ he said as he struggled to his feet and hobbled over to the nurse at the side of the track. Bronte and Crazy Trevor ran over and huddled round him. Ugenia walked slowly over to join them.
‘Don’t worry, Rudy,’ said Ugenia sadly as she tried to cover up her disappointment. ‘I’ll go and get you some tarberry juice.’
Ugenia felt very glum as she wandered over to Granny Betty, who was waving from the bench.
‘Oh, Granny Betty, I’m such a loser,’ Ugenia said sadly. ‘I haven’t won anything. I failed at the fruit and vegetable competition and the dog show, and now poor Rudy has hurt himself. All our training was for nothing, and we’ve lost the relay race. I feel like a total loser. I tried so hard to win loads of trophies like Great-grandad Freddy Lavender, but I can’t turn my hand to anything. I’m just useless!’
‘Ugenia, your great-grandad used to say, “The only losers are the ones so afraid of failure they don’t even try,”’ Granny Betty said gently, giving Ugenia a hug. ‘Now, stop feeling sorry for yourself and go and give some support to your friend Rudy.’
Ugenia picked up a carton of tarberry juice and ran back to Rudy, who was getting his ankle bandaged by the school nurse. Ugenia handed Rudy the juice.
‘Thanks, Ugenia,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry we didn’t get to win you a trophy. It’s all my fault.’
‘Don’t worry, Rudy, it’s the taking part that counts. And we tried, didn’t we? Right?’ said Ugenia.
‘Yeah, but I can’t even run my obstacle race now. My ankle’s really sore. It’s a shame because I was really looking forward to it and it’s the last race in the competition. There’s still a trophy to be won.’
Ugenia stared at Rudy. Suddenly, like a thunderbolt of lightning, she had a brainwave. ‘Incredible!’ she cried. ‘Maybe I could do your obstacle race for you. I might as well try – we haven’t got anything to lose, have we?’
‘You’re right, Ugenia. Go for it!’ laughed Rudy. ‘This one’s yours!’ And Bronte and Crazy Trevor grinned and nodded. They all knew how desperately Ugenia wanted to win a trophy.
Mrs Flitt decided to let Rudy choose his own replacement, so Ugenia tied her trainers extra tight and jogged determinedly towards the starting line. The other contestants were already limbering up for what was going to be the hardest and most challenging race of the whole Boxmore Olympics.
Mrs Flitt blew her whistle and shouted, ‘On your marks, get set, GOOOOO!’
Ugenia ran faster than she ever had before, trying desperately to keep up with the others. This race was extra long, involving various challenges along the way.
Ugenia was behind all the other runners as they ran around the track. When they’d wriggled through the tunnels there were three people ahead of her – Sebastian, Max and Liberty. Chantelle was behind her.
Ugenia tried to keep a steady pace as there was still a long way to go. As they dribbled the football around the cones there were two people in front of her – Sebastian and Max. Liberty and Chantelle were behind her.
Ugenia kept taking deep breaths, still trying to keep her pace steady as they entered the section where they each had to grab a beanbag and run with it on their heads.
As they reached the final leg of the race, Max, Liberty and Chantelle were behind Ugenia and only Sebastian was still ahead.
Suddenly Ugenia could see the finish line, but she was still in second place. She began to feel tired and frustrated – but then she thought of Freddy Lavender’s words: ‘The only losers are the ones so afraid of failure they don’t even try.’
As she let her great-grandad’s words fill her mind, Ugenia felt herself turning into a supersonic rocket. She started running like she’d never run before, steaming straight past Sebastian and on through the finish line.
The crowd roared, and Granny Betty and all the Lavender family clapped and cheered. Bronte, Crazy Trevor and Rudy, who had hobbled over to a bench to watch with the others, were screaming and shouting.
When the exhausted runners had jogged over to her, Mrs Flitt blew her whistle and got everyone’s attention.
‘I would like to thank everyone taking part today. You’ll all be going home with a medal, but I have one more trophy to hand out – to the winner of the hardest and longest race of the Boxmore Hill School Olympics. It took real stamina and commitment to win that race. AND THE WINNER IS . . . UGENIA LAVENDER!’
Ugenia leaped into the air with excitement as she ran over to Mrs Flitt, took a huge bow, punched the air in victory and grabbed the shiny silver trophy.
‘This trophy really belongs to someone else,’ Ugenia said, and she handed it to Rudy. ‘If it wasn’t for Rudy I wouldn’t have run this race in the first place. He encouraged me to take part in the Boxmore Olympics and he helped me to train every day so I was fit enough. So thanks, Rudy!’ And Ugenia smiled and gave Rudy a big hug as everyone cheered and clapped.
‘Thanks, Ugenia, that was really kind of you,’ said Rudy quietly. ‘Because I know you wanted a trophy for your own trophy cabinet.’
‘Rudy, I don’t even own a trophy cabinet,’ giggled Ugenia, and with that she ran off to do her victory lap of honour.
Magpie’s Missing Words
I lost count of all the magpies I saw on Friday the thirteenth, but it didn’t matter, as it turned out to be a really lucky day for me after all! Can you remember the rhyme Granny Betty told me about magpies? Fill in the missing words to complete the lines. ‘One for sorrow, _ _ _ for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a _ _ _, _ _ _ _ for silver, Six for _ _ _ _, Seven for a _ _ _ _ _ that’s never been told.’
Tip! If you’re stuck, turn to this page.
Ugenia’s Shopping Search
Do you remember the day Bronte’s mum took us shopping to Garrods, the most glamorous shop in the world? I’ve never seen so many different things to buy in one place! Can you find seven of them in my shopping wordsearch? The words can be up, down, backwards, forwards or even diagonal!
Ugenia’s Green-fingered Grid
Ok, I admit that I cheated in the King of the Green Fingers Gardening competition, but I’ll never do it again – promise! To find out which fruit I took to the competition, look at the clues below. All of them are names of fruit or vegetables. Can you write the five words across the grid? If you do, my fruit will be revealed in the vertical box.
1. Round and red, this is great in salads and sandwiches. But is it a fruit or a vegetable?
2. Small, red and juicy, this fruit tastes great with cream and sugar. Mmm!
3. This fruit can be red or green, but it’s always crunchy and delicious. When you eat it, just leave the core.
4. You can eat this vegetable raw or cooked. It’s orange and is a rabbit’s favourite food!
5. This round fruit must be peeled before you eat it. Its name is exactly the same as its colour!
Ugenia’s Lucky Letters
Granny Betty’s beautiful silver charm bracelet has got many lucky charms hanging from it. Can you remember five of them? The words are below – but all the ‘e’s and ‘a’s are missing. Can you put them back in to spell the words correctly?
Ugenia Lavender and the Burning Pants Page 6