Father-Son Horse Races

Father and son wait for the start of the final horse race

As usual on july 14th, aside from celebrating liberté, egalité and fraternité, we also celebrate the horse races in Avera. Last year Viriamu missed the birth of his daughter to race, this year it was the first time that Tuati has been allowed to race, as well as Viriamu's would-be champion horse 'Oviri'. The last few days have been pretty tense, there has long been rivalry between Viriamu and his little brother Mani, the reigning champion, but the tension was palpable yesterday. To cut a long story short, Viriamu got fifth and Tuati got third in the final, but Tuati gave Mani (the winner for a 7th time in a row) a good scare, he overtook him and was ahead for part of the race, but Tuati took the wrong line on the final stretch and was overtaken at the last moment......next year, next year! Tuati still dreams of gold!

The final stretch, so close but so far! Tuati (far left), Mani (far right). 
Tuati did a great job in his first race, he's just a slip of a thirteen year old lad!