Amiable mascot, Howie the Hornet, flew the flag in style for Horsham Football Club back in June, claiming a fantastic second place in the unofficial Mascot Olympics. Held at Milton Keynes as part of the town's 40th Anniversary celebrations, nineteen mascots congregated from as far afield as Sheffield, Bradford, Halifax, Yeovil, Reading and Crawley, as well as local representation from MK Dons' Mooie and Donny, to compete in a series of challenges that is hoped to become a regular event in the Buckinghamshire town.

Howie and his travelling companion Matt Haynes were well looked after, spending the Friday night at the new Ramada Encore hotel, before meeting up with their fellow competitors at Milton Keyne's Theatre District on Saturday morning.

Howie got off to a flyer in the opening event, surprising even himself by taking second place in the Midsummer Place Shoppers Walk that comprised of each mascot, in turn, carrying two 40lb dumbbells 100 yards in the quickest time possible. Howie's success was even more remarkable given that Crawley Town's Reggie the Red stood on the dumbbells to prevent him from lifting them !! Next came Howie's favourite challenge, the Xscape Toboggan Plunge - on real snow. "It was brilliant !", claimed our furry friend, although the mix of mascots and snow led to chaos with most entrants seemingly more interested in trying to bury each other before the start. After winning his heat, Howie was through to the final six but he couldn't repeat his earlier heroics, finishing in 4th or 5th place although Howie claimed "it was pretty hard to tell when sliding down and spinning around". He did manage to take out a couple of mascots at the finish line to make up for his disappointment.

Third event was the Enjoy Holidays Rodeo which, by his own admission, our hero was "pretty useless at". After three attempts just to get on the bull, he lasted about 13 seconds whilst the winning mascot lasted more than half a minute. Howie did manage to eclipse Sheffield United's unfortunate Captain Blade, though, who failed to even climb aboard. Lunchtime included a live link on Sky Sports News with all the mascots crowding round the games' organiser whilst she was being interviewed. Needless to say, this ended in chaos after the mascots all started falling around and trying to put her off.

After lunch came the fourth event, the Prêt a Mange Water Dash, in which Howie did okay but "nothing spectacular". But, with mascots such as Burton Albion's Betty Brewer not only cheating but causing a course obstacle, it was amazing anyone finished with water still in their cups.

Lewis Taylor's place as Horsham penalty taker doesn't appear to be under threat from Howie who failed to score a goal in the fifth event, the Subway Penalty Shoot Out. In a timed event, Howie managed to complete the course in good time although, with five holes to aim at within a small goal, he wasn't alone in failing to register a single strike. In fact, only three mascots found themselves on the scoresheet in this event !

The last challenge was the Pauley Landscapes Assault Course, which was to provide plenty of enjoyment for the sizeable crowd. Comprising a bridge, jumping through tyres, leaping hurdles, dribbling a large inflatable football, walking on beams and negotiating a slalom, this turned out to be Howie's best event and he won it in a time of 48 seconds. Not so fortunate was Yeovil Town's Jolly Green Giant who almost decapitated himself as he'd forgotten how tall his hat was (that'll teach him for knocking us out of the FA Cup a few years back) !

With the day's events finally over, it was left to former World Cup winner Martin Peters to make the presentations and Howie was bristling with pride as he collected his rosettes for his 1st and 2nd places. However, there was a surprise in store for our green and yellow representative when he was announced as the runner-up for the entire competition and, with Gully Mouse (from local attraction Gullivers' Land) taking first place, Howie could proudly claim to be the best footballing mascot........in this competition at least.

After the presentation there was a further live link up on Sky Sports News whilst they interviewed Pete Winkelman, the MK Dons chairman, who was also mobbed whilst he was on air.

So that was it - almost!

Just as they were about to get changed, some of the mascots were invited to go skydiving. Not real skydiving, of course, but a big wind tunnel where the turbines blow you up off the ground with 120mph winds so it feels like you are skydiving. The event organisers wanted to thank the competitors for putting on such a good show for the crowds and treated them to this unforgettable experience. Unsurprisingly, the mascots jumped at the chance and there followed the surreal sight of a hornet, some cows, a monkey and a pirate idea floating in the air.

The MK Olympics is just the latest in a hectic schedule of appearances by Horsham's popular mascot who has already attended the Littlehaven fete, Lingfield Races and, with further outings due over the coming weeks, why not pop along and lend Howie your support, or even keep Matt company !!

Photographs courtesy of Natasha King and Sara Mills click here to read the West Sussex County Times article