Press Release
February 11th 2010
South Ribble Schools dominate in LancashireSportshallAthleticsCounty Championships.
Two South Ribble Primary schools had exceptional performances at the recent Lancashire sportshall athletics county championships that took place onWednesday 10th February 2010 at Blackpool Sports Centre.
Each borough of Lancashire had a school representing then in both the small school and large school category, with twenty five schools taking part in the county final overall. The schools were selected to represent their borough by winningtheir borough final in their relevantcategory. Including the local events, approximately 286 primary schools and 8560 children took part in events leading up to the final.
Higher Walton primary school won the small schools event to be crowned Lancashire county champion, which is a huge achievement for the school. Their team consisted of boys and girls from year 3, 4, 5 and 6. They competed in sprint running races, obstacle running races, throwing and jumping events to show the diversity in skill of the school. Once the school knew that they had qualified for the final, the children all trained extremely hard and their dedication certainly paid off.
Our Lady and St Gerard’s primary school also performed extremely strongly to finish third overall.
Each borough final was organised by the competition manager from the schools sports partnership. The County final in Blackpoolwas organised by the team of competition managers along with a team from Sportshall Athletics, the company that invented the concept.
Sportshall Athletics emphasises the importance of team competition, fair play and the fact that taking part and trying your hardest is more important than winning. Sportshall is an activity that can bring together young people across the globe in energetic competition and lasting friendship.
Kerry Preston, PE coordinator at Higher Walton Primary school said “ The children were over the moon with excitement at being crowned the county champions 2009/2010. The journey has been one full of enjoyment and hard work and the children have worked so hard for this achievement. The whole process has been a rollercoaster of emotions that ended with some very proud and excited staff, children and school”
Jane Sheridan, senior competition manager for Lancashire, explained: “This is an exciting time for youth sports, with the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics on the horizon and there is a lot for our children and young people to aspire to. This was an excellent opportunity for the children to compete in an exciting high quality event and hopefully go on to compete at a higher level in the future”