At its fall homecoming "Couchfest" celebration, Middleburg Academy (formerly Notre Dame Academy) introduced a new sport with perhaps Olympic potential, Couch Racing.

Conceived by Phillip Lawson-Shanks and his wife Wendy, a member of the school's faculty, the sport had its genesis somewhere to the east of Middleburg, either in Aldie, Virginia or England.

The concept is simple: Equip a couch with wheels and coast or otherwise propel it down a slope from a starting point to a finish line as swiftly as possible, carrying a crew to assist in its management and add weight and thus momentum to the vehicle. Couchfesting dress is eclectic for both participants and spectators, rather than conforming the unimaginative formality required at comparable British events such as Ascot or Henley. This suggests an American origin for the sport.

Couch Racing is as yet unencumbered by any rules other than the law of gravity (in itself a British import, courtesy of Sir Thomas Newton). There is as yet no limit on design or means of propulsion. One vehicle was seen to spout bursts of smoke from its tailpipe, and some seen in the race meet today suggested that their designers had yet to enjoy time in the Academy's excellent physics department.

The naming of the vehicles, however, was creative. Appropriately, "Freudian Slip" stayed on course for only about 30 yards from the start, its design lacking any steering mechanism. Who or what "Psycho" was named for is unclear, but teenagers usually can identify many who fit that mold. "Derelict-ious" was a successful entry, probably named for its body's condition before the propitious addition of wheels. But to this aging writer, the most appropriate was the Parents' Association entry, "Desperate Housewives." It, too, had trouble surviving its course.

At the conclusion of racing, trophies capped by model couches were awarded. During that ceremony Head of School Libbi Murray pointed to a very steep road that intersected the course near its finish, advising that racing couch design had a long way to go before she would approve moving a future meet to that hill.

There was no opportunity to gauge the racers' reaction to that challenge by an adult authority figure, because the crowd was due at the soccer game, to be followed by a barbecue and bonfire thereafter.

As the throng dispersed, the couches were collected under the event's welcoming sign. It was uncertain whether they would enter a tag sale, be rehabbed for future use, or visit some nearby land fill. An informed guess would be "rehabilitation," because, as they used to say of the old Brooklyn Dodgers, "wait 'til next year."