CONCENTRATION etched across the faces of competitors - youngsters, parents and grandparents clearly had their sights set on glory at the town’s first-ever egg and spoon race.

Clinging on to their cutlery while hurtling through the picturesque Abbey Gardens in Abingdon, the children raced across the finish line to electric cheers from their families.

And organisers of the World Eggbert’s Adventures Egg and Spoon Championships want to make the Easter event an annual occasion after Saturday afternoon’s success.

The event was created after Paul Gustafson began planning the event based around his popular children’s book series Eggbert’s Adventures.

The author teamed up with Visit Abingdon, the company responsible for organising the town’s Business Improvement District .

BID manager Julie Downing said for a first-time event it was ‘brilliant’.

She added: “It was a lot of fun. We now have a lot of ideas to help build it for next year” Ms Downing thanked the many businesses and local people who supported the event, including The Broad Face pub, in Bridge Street, which boiled more than 500 eggs to avoid any runny yolk disasters.

Hand-eye coordination was put to the test as Oxfordshire Army cadets officiated the many races. Mr Gustafson wanted to shatter the world record for racing with the largest egg and largest spoon. The retired teacher had a huge spoon made for the event and sourced an ‘enormous’ ostrich egg, which was carried by fictional character, Eggbert.