re-opened National Stadium on Saturday for the popular series of Magic Mile races sponsored by Telford Electric.

And while there were a number of promising performances from children as young as four to those in their mid-teens, the accent remained firmly on participation.

In what was probably the closest finish of the day, in the boys eight to nine age bracket, Kor-von Tucker, of Purvis Primary, came home in seven minutes, 51 seconds, to pip Carlo Paynter of West End Primary by just one second.

Saltus student Henry Talbot, 14, ran the fastest race of the day to win the boys 13-15 age group in a time of 6:52 -- 24 seconds clear of his nearest rival, Darius Burch, of Spice Valley.

Terence Dill, of Dellwood, won the boys 11-12 age group in 7:13, while Flora Duffy took the honours in the girls 11-12s, winning in 7:48.

Somerset Primary's Kimberley Fisher won in the girls eight to nines in 8:19, while Deshun Dill, also of Somerset, was the best of the seven-year-old boys, beating West End's Shomari Brown by just two seconds.

Heron Bay's Venicia Raynor won in the seven-year-old girls race and the six-year-old winners were Stevon Swan Richardson (Somerset) and Apryl Jackson (Prospect).

The five-year-old winners were Kiaaron Minks and Kacee Morton-Simons, both of Saltus Cavendish, while the four-year-old races were won by Winton Atkins (St.

John's Primary, and Alecia Holder (St. Mark's Preschool).

Look of determination: West End school's Carlo Paynter gives his all on the way to a second place finish in the 8-9 boys' race.

Mad dash: Charlene Grant (39) leads a pack of runners as they race for home during Saturday's seven-year-old girls' event in the Telford Electric Mile series at National Stadium.

Leader of the pack: Somerset Primary's Kiara Richardson (366) leads the charge in the six-year-old girls' race. Kiara eventually finished sixth.

Feeling the strain: Not everybody enjoyed Saturday's races. Four-year-old Nyah Emery seemingly would have been happier elsewhere.

Flying start: Kiaaron Minks (525) of Saltus went on to win the five-year-old boys' event but faced some stiff competition early in the race from Joshua Usher (552) and Jordan Osborne (503).