SNAIL VAULT EVENT - AOG DAY 3

We were out in the garden early today, because at Mr. HCB’s suggestion, he felt that Sammy had a good chance of winning the Snail Vault event on Day 3 of the Alternative Olympic Games.  Mr. HCB said that as Sammy and his relatives had rested yesterday, they should be in good form for this event.

I interviewed Sammy before he slithered up the pole and asked him how he felt.  He said that he had always had a fear of heights but that because many of his relatives and friends were going to be there, he was going to try and overcome this fear and give it his best shot - not shot putt, you understand, but his best jump over the high wire.  He said that he had been practising yesterday, even though it was a rest day for him after his victory in The Admirer Stakes on the first day of the AOG.

Sammy told me that he had two new relatives who had come some way to visit and to watch him in his latest event, Siegfried and Sassoona, so he was anxious to do well and he hoped that they would go back home and tell everyone what a wonderful role model he was, which might encourage some of his younger relatives to start training for the next AOG.

So with suspense and excitement mounting, Sammy set off and he seemed to be doing really well - many of his relatives had grandstand seats above the high wire and they were all spurring him on.  Up and up he went until at the last minute, when he got to the top of the pole, he decided that he just couldn’t do it.  

Oh dear, the roars of the crowd now turned into annoyance and anger - they had come all this way to the AOG and Sammy had flunked it!  With a slow clap of disappointment ringing in his ears, Sammy slithered down the pole and with his head low slithered off to the dressing rooms.  

I caught him just after he had had a shower, and asked him what had gone wrong, despite all his rigorous training?  He said that when he got to the top of the pole and saw everyone shouting and jumping up and down, he looked down and just felt frightened and decided that if he went ahead, he might very well drop from way up high and smash his shell, which meant he would die, so he decided to slither back down.  

He said he was upset and knew everyone was disappointed, but sometimes, he said, he had to listen to that inner voice that told him not to do something and he hoped that his relatives, particularly Siegfried and Sassoona would forgive him, in time.  However, he still had the cup from The Admirer Stakes, and no-one could take that away from him.

He also said that despite pulling out of the Snail Vault today, he would still be eligible to have another go later in the week - failure today wasn’t necessarily failure tomorrow or the next day - and we all need to remember that.  At least he had tried!

“It is hard to fail, 
     but it is worse never to have tried 
          to succeed.”
Theodore Roosevelt