Mascot Olympics 2012 - Results

Firstly thank you to everyone who made this years Mascot Olympics such a fantastic day.  The mascots were hillarious, as ever, and we are pleased to announce that Clarence the Dragon (Northampton Town FC), despite his tumble off the jousting inflatable, is fine.  I believe MK Hospital found it quite entertaining having an 8ft dragon brought in ... a change from their normal patient!

The weather was a challenge for some of the mascots due to the high winds.  Trax and Maps the gnomes had a particular struggle due to their massive heads, but at no point did they give up!

Thank you to our two Mascot Parade leaders who gallantly carried our Olympic Torch.  Tilly, who is 8 and blind (and amazed when she felt the size of the gnomes' heads!), was helped by her brother Oli.  We also had Jessica, also 8, who sadly lost her twin brother Harry when they were only 5.  Both amazing little girls and they did a fantastic job of keeping the Mascots in order between the Theatre District and Xscape.

The SNO!zone Toboggan Plunge initially was total carnage as mascot after mascot smashed into the fencing at the bottom of the toboggan slope and we ended up with a massive pile of giant fluffy animals!  Once we had moved the fence to give them a bit more room and allow them to slow down naturally towards the end a little more, we were able to start the event.  We had a lot of mascot antics and various degrees of cheating, but had a reasonably fair competition in the end.  The 1st and 2nd placed mascots from each heat then competed in the final.  The overall winner of that event was Donny from MK Dons, followed by Bartley Blue from Cardiff City with Lenny the City Gent from Bradford coming in 3rd.

The next event was the De Vere Shot Put (thank you to De Vere Harben who accommodated several mascots over the weekend).  They were throwing large, heavy balls and aiming for various targets to accumulate as many points as possible.  I am not sure what Pucky,

or indeed many of the mascots were doing and keeping control of the course was tough, but the eventual winner was Lenny from Bradford City FC, with Clarence the Dragon from Northampton Town FC 2nd and Hero Bear from Help4Heroes coming in 3rd.  At one point Pucky from MK Lightning plonked himself into one of the large buckets ... believe me, it is not easy trying to move a stubbon giant polar bear when he is determined to stay where he is.

The mascots then took on the third event of the day which was the Midsummer Place Dash.  In keeping with the Olympic theme this was hurdles with a twist.  The twist being that not only did the mascots have to go over jumps but also under obstacles and, just to add to the excitement, the

course became narrower as they reached the finish.  With poles flying, spectators dodging the missiles and helpers hanging onto the fences so the wind didn't blow them over it was a well fought competition.  The final had an array of oddly shaped creatures hurtling down the District and the eventual winners were Bartley Blue from Cardiff City coming in 1st, Percy the Penguin from SNO!zone taking 2nd and Twizzle from 360 Play in 3rd.

After lunch refreshments and a rest whilst spectators were entertained by Real Music MK, Festive Road and their 'build a giant' workshop plus all the great stalls who not only were selling bits and pieces but also offered art and fun activities, the mascots came out for the final three events.

The first event of the afternoon was the long jump.  The first jump was from a standing start and the second was freestyle (where more often than not they received the red card from the judge for missing their takeoff) and there were some interesting attempts.  Some flew and others really didn't get very far at all but the overall winner was Beaky from Beacon Bingo followed by Roary the Tiger from Hull and in 3rd place we had last year's overal Olympic Champion, Howie the Hornet from Horsham FC. 

Whilst this event was taking place our poor comentator (Steven Gordon-Wilson) was bundled to the floor, squished by at least 5 mascots and then had his socks and shoes removed and legs taped together.  Amazingly those not witnessing these antics were none the wiser as, being a professional, the commentary somehow continued.  The tape across the mouth, however, did eventually stop him .... temporarily!

The penaltimate event of the day was the Gladiator Joust.  Just getting up onto the large inflatable and balancing on the podium was a huge challenge for many of the mascots.  It was a very difficult event to judge as often one would fall knocking into the other or they would both go down at the same time!  Sadly this event had to eventually be abandoned as Clarence the Dragon took a tumble in the final round against Donny.

After a short break the mascots came out for the final event of the day, the Pauley Interactive Obstacle Challenge.  This year the course had 17 obstacles

and for the first time we had a pole squeeze (having to squeeze between narrow posts), goal scoring (with a goal keeper that changed half way through from a MK Dons representative to Pucky  .... I wonder actually if the polar bear ate the original goal keeper as not sure where he went?!) and a double jump, which some crazy mascots actually did as one massive jump!  The overall winner of this event was Howie the Hornet followed by Trax (somehow) in 2nd place (think it was because he must have scored a goal or two ... increased the points considerably) with the Xscape Ape in 3rd place.  As ever Pucky won most entertaining in this event with his forward rolls and dance routines!

Pauline, a founder and Trustee of VICTA, our charity of the day, kindly presented the prizes .... and there are many to present!  As well as all the bronze, silver and gold medals we also had best turned out (Hero Bear), Best behaved (not many fell into this category .. but eventually decided on Howie the Hornet), Kids Favourite (Pucky from MK Lightning), Furthest travelled (Roary from Hull)

and Best MK Mascot (Xscape Ape).  For the first year we had a judges special and this was awarded to Captain Blade from Sheffield United for not only helping the judges by fairly judging take off in the long jump but also helping his fellow competitors .... at least some of the time (he is a pirate after all!!).

The overall Olympic Champion this year was Beaky from Beacon Bingo in Northampton.  He beat his closest competition by only 1 point as he had one 1st and 3 x 5ths for events through the days (points are allocated down to 6th place).  There was actually a tie for Reserve Champion on points but we then took into account 1st and 2nd places and Bartley Blue from Cardiff City Football Club just took that place with Howie the Hornet from Horsham a whisker behind.

The trophy for the Most Entertaining Mascot Overall was again presented to Roary the Tiger from Hull City FC.  This is the second time he has won this award in the past 3 years and he trully deserves the title.  He never stops entertaining the crowds and comes up with some great mascot comedy.

Congratulations to all our winners and a huge thank you to all our helpers, wonderful spectators and of course the 25 mascots who came along and gave us all such a great day.

Also a huge thank you to Kate from Kate Everall Photography who diligently followed the mascots through the day and captured all these wonderful pictures!