I remember several years ago when the band I was with at the time (Crystal Palace) entered the 4th section at the Reading Contest. Not only that, we were playing at the Hexagon that year! Anyway, the test piece then was Simon Called Peter. Now it wasn't a particularly BAD performance, but we had no percussion, we started the day out with 6 cornets and ended up with 5 on stage because the rep player came back late having visited the local Pizza Hut! Anyway, we played (drawn 13th out of 13....) and thought that it sounded OK-ish considering the numbers we didn't have!
When it was announced that the first prize had gone to the band that played number 13, were there huge cheers from the Palace contingent? Nope. Stunned silence at first and then a token cheer when we realised they were talking about us! We couldn't believe we'd won! Come to think of it, no-one else there could either! (It should be added that the rules of that particular contest at the time did state that percussion was 'optional'! )