The favourite wriggled its way to the finishing post amid cheers from spectators as racing returned to Sussex yesterday.

Unfortunately, the winner then fell off the table and was trodden on by a group of schoolchildren trying to avoid the white and wriggling creepy crawlie.

This was not Plumpton but a few miles away at Ditchling where the Maggot Championships were being held.

The Maggot Racing Board had given permission for the meeting to go ahead providing none of the runners were brought into the school and the dining table on which the race meeting took place was thoroughly disinfected afterwards.

Cheers reverberated around St Margaret's Primary School as the first race got under way.

One of the runners, Tornado, could not cope with the excitement and decided to turn round and head back to the warmth of the tin where he had been contentedly wriggling with hundreds of his relations minutes earlier.

A finger flicked him back on to the course so he could continue along the 18in of grooved cardboard But he was no match for the runner in the pink lane who found the smoothness of the painted groove to his liking and romped home.

The meeting was in aid of Red Nose Day and the brainchild of Zefi Hennessy-Holland and Ben Holter, both ten.

They had seen maggot racing at a village fair and decided it was the best way to raise money for charity as part of the school's effort for this year's Comic Relief.

The runners were banned from being stabled in the warmth of their houses and had to be kept in a jar outside prior to the big race.

Zefi said: "We were really pleased with the way it went.

"The maggots wriggled well and we all had an excellent time."