CHAPTER 1
[032] ‘One, two, three, go!’ Mrs Evans says.[040]
Four girls — Laura, Sarah, Deborah and Kim — run a hundred meters.[050]
Kim finishes first.[054]
‘Good,’ Mrs Evans says to Kim. ‘You run very well. Can you run for the school later this summer?’[067]
‘Oh, yes, please!’ Kim answers. She is twelve, and this is her first year at this school.[080]
That evening Kim asks her father, ‘Can I go to Allen’s Athletics Club on Saturday ?’[088]
Her father! looks at her. ‘This is new!’ he says. ‘OK, you can go.’[100]
On Saturday morning Kim and her father go to the club and meet the coach.[108]
He smiles and says, ‘Hello, Kim. Come with me!’[117]
They go to the track.[120]
Some children are there. Kim and the children run slowly for twenty minutes and then they stretch for twenty minutes. After this, they run fifty metres quickly. They run quickly again and again, then they run slowly for ten minutes.[149]
Kim’s father asks, “Do you like it here?’[154]
‘Yes!’ Kim answers.[158]
Kim’s father takes her to the athletics club every week. He watches her. ‘She’s very good,’ he thinks.[172]
There are often races at the club and sometimes Kim wins them.[180]
Her father is happy then.[185]
After six weeks the coach says, ‘There’s a competition at Barton Athletics Club on Saturday. Can you go? Ask your mother and father.’[202]
That afternoon Kim talks to her mother and father about the competition. Her friend Hannah is there.[215]
‘Come shopping with me on Saturday!’ Hannah says.[221]
‘Competitions are very important,’ Kim’s father says.[228]
‘Sorry, Hannah,’ Kim says.[232]
On Saturday Kim’s father drives her to the competition. There are children there from Barton Athletics Club.[245]
Kim’s first race is at ten o’clock. One girl is tall and strong. Kim looks at her. Suddenly, Kim hears the gun.[263]
The tall girl starts quickly.[267]
She wins, and Kim is third.[274]
The second race is at twelve o’clock. The tall girl is there again and again she wins.[287]
In the third race Kim starts very quickly, and she wins. She is very happy. Her father says, ‘Good girl!’[303]
At home Kim talks about the competition. ‘That tall girl Nicole is very good.’[314]
You can be very good too!’ her father says.[320]
‘Perhaps,’ her mother says. ‘But school is important.’[327]
‘OK,’ Kim says. ‘I can run for the school too.’[334]
‘When can you run for the school?’ her father asks.[340]
‘George, stop,’ her mother says. ‘Time for bed, Kim.’