Over 1000 Young People achieve their Personal Bests
More than 850 children from over 25 local primary schools took part in the finals of ‘Personal Bests’ at the end of June at The Winchester Sports Stadium.
The children had been taking part in the programme over the last year, where they compete against themselves in 6 different athletic based activities and try to achieve their personal bests on finals day.
The event saw each school adopt an Olympic continent with Asia coming first followed by Africa and Europe. The winning school was Harestock followed by Shepherds Down and St Johns C.
Over 150 Leaders from Peter Symonds College, Sparsholt College, Swanmore College and Perins School also did a fantastic job in managing the teams and ensuring the scores were recorded.
The scheme which is run by Winchester City Council and the local Schools Sport Partnerships has proved a great success and has seen many more pupils involved in sporting activity than usually take part in the more traditional competitive activities.
The children were also treated to an inspirational talk by Commonwealth bronze medallist, Olympian and London 2012 hopeful Steph Twell, who gave them an insight into her training and nutritional regime.
Southern Water sponsored the event and gave out reusable water bottles to all the children.
Penny Hodge, PR Manager at Southern Water said: "It was a fantastic day with some excellent performances from the participants and Southern Water was delighted to be involved. Keeping the youngsters hydrated on such a hot day was essential and Mr Drink-It did a great job of reminding everyone to keep their water bottles topped up. We are looking forward to being involved again next year."
The scheme will run again in the next school year in the build up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and will be bigger and better, with over 2000 school children taking part.
Cllr Patricia Stallard, Winchester City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Culture, Heritage and Sport said, “This event has been fantastic, the children have really enjoyed themselves and have had the chance to achieve by bettering their previous performances. The support from the Leaders and from all the partners in the Sport and Physical Activity Alliance has been excellent and I am already looking forward to Personal Bests in 2012.”
Personal Bests was inspired by a similar event taking place in Hackney over the past few years. The two events now have a very good supporting relationship and will be working together over the coming year.