THE Borders Athletics season comes under starter's orders this Sunday with the Peebles Three Bridges races.

Now celebrating its 37th year the Three Bridges Races and Spring Fete takes place on Tweed Green throughout Sunday afternoon.

The distance race, will as usual, be run over the one-and-a-half mile circuit, linking the Priorsford, Cuddy and Fotheringham foot bridges.

But before the distance races there are the popular 3 Bridges sprint races kicking off the action from 1.30pm.

The Beltane Fete is also scheduled to start at 1.30pm, providing food, fun, fairground rides and sideshow enjoyment.

There will be a variety of stalls including commercial, local organisation, such as Peebles Scouts, as well as the Peebles Silver band providing the musical treats for the afternoon.

On the course crowds will witness all the excitement from three relay races and five cross country events.

The Three Bridges relay races, all sponsored by Paul and Louise Spence, Peebles, have now established themselves as popular additions to the programme.

The first race is for pupils in Primary 4 and Primary 5 from schools with less than 120 pupils.

This is followed by the race for Primary 4 pupils from schools with more than 120 pupils and following on from this race is the Primary 5 relay race for schools with more the 150 pupils.

This is always a great start to the day getting the crowd enthused for the cross country races that feature for the remainder of the afternoon

Onto the cross-country track and the action kicks off with the one-and-a-half mile team race for girls from primary schools in Tweeddale, Sponsored by the Kingsmuir Construction Ltd, with a trophy and medals for the winning team.

The individual winner will also receive an voucher donated by TweedLove bike festival.

The Tweed Line Taxis (Peebles) sponsored one-and-a-half mile handicap for 10 to16-year-olds follows with the f Memorial Trophy up for grabs.

A spokesman for the Three Bridges told us: "We already have a large number of entrants registered for the event, which includes prize money and a trophy for the winner.

"This popular event in the youth running calendar is always certain to attract the up and coming cross country runners of tomorrow."

The Youths race is followed by the one-and-a-half mile race for boys from primary schools in Tweeddale, competing for the Challenge Trophy and medals.

The race is sponsored by the Kingsmuir Construction Ltd, Peebles with TweedLove also donating a voucher to the winner.

The fifth and main event of the afternoon is the three-mile open handicap for the Peebles Three Bridges Trophy, an individual trophy to keep and first prize of £125.

The race is sponsored by Davie Duthie Auto Repairs.

The spokesman added: "A good selection of up and coming runners as well as some old hands will be on show, as well as the excellent support as always, by locally based runners.

"Last year’s winner Craig Bell will be back to attempt to win the title for a second year in a row, but he will have some competition from 2016 winner and local lass Sophie Collins."

Bringing down the curtain on an exciting day's athletics will be the popular team race, although intended to be a fun run it has proved to be a popular second run for the school teams, of which many register on the day.

The race is open to all clubs, pubs, organisations and groups from Tweeddale, and organisers encourage everyone to get a team of four and make it an event to remember.

The race for teams of four can be made up of any age and sex and is run over one circuit of the track, with the handicapper allocating the starts and entries can be made on the day.

The team race prizes are donated by the Beltane Committee and the individual winner will receive a gift voucher from Rogerson Footwear, Peebles.