Scunthorpe youngsters compete on National stage

Two Scunthorpe and district athletes Alice KAYE and Ashley WREN qualified to compete in this year UK School games held in the North east in and around Newcastle. The Athletics events were based at Gateshead International stadium.

The UK School Games is a multi-sport event for the UK’s elite young athletes of school age who must be under 17. The sports programme has been increased for 2010 to include a new sport, road cycling, which combined with the existing programme of Athletics, Badminton, Fencing, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Swimming, Table Tennis and Volleyball brings the total to ten sports. The integrated programme of disability events in Athletics, Swimming and Table Tennis increases the athletes competing in 2010 to over 1600.

Each of the ten sports is combined into a four-day Games environment designed to replicate the feel of major event such as the Olympic Games, Paralympics Games and Commonwealth Games,where athletes from all the different sports all stay together in an athletes village

The Games is the next step for athletes following participation in the National Schools Athletics Association Track and Field Championships. This year the size of the regions had been increased so reducing twelve teams of last year down to 8 cities. Belfast, Birmingham Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, London, Manchester and  Gateshead  Points are awarded depending on finishing position and a cup is awarded to the winning team,

The event got off  to a bang with an opening ceremony which showcased the North East England. The opening ceremony was part of the UK School Games cultural and educational programme and had 1,600 elite school aged athletes in attendance, parading in front of the assembled VIP's and public.

 The ceremony was hosted by BBC Sport presenter Jill Douglas who was joined on stage by Olympic athletes Amy Williams who officially opened the 2010 games. Also in the audience were former Olympic medallists Darren Campbell, Gail Emms and Jason Gardener.

Amy Williams said: "The opening ceremony of the Sainsbury's UK School Games will have been a great moment for these young athletes, the moment they walked out in the parade will have made them realise how much they want to succeed. These athletes are our future aspiring athletes and potentially our future Olympians and this event is an amazing opportunity for these young athletes to compete on a much bigger scale than some of them are used to."

Williams, who won gold in the women's bob skeleton in the Vancouver Olympics earlier this year, continued: "The multi-sport element is something most competing athletes will be experiencing for the first time, there are a lot of distractions and the pressure may also be higher at this kind of event. However, it's a chance to learn and no doubt they will take a lot away from this fantastic competition. There was nothing like this when I was young, my first event was the World Championships and I just had to learn on the spot, so this is a great opportunity for gaining advice and experience."

The successful Scunthorpe athletes were both part of the Gateshead team. With such a big region that included Lincolnshire, Humberside. Yorkshire and the North East, selection was a major achievement in itself with only one athlete been selected per area per event. First to compete was Alice on the Friday evening when she was part of the 4x300m team. Alice is ranked in every event including 200m, 300m, 400m and hurdles so seemed an ideal relay runner. She was given the task of running the third leg and handed over in 2^nd place, with the team eventually finishing 3^rd.  Ashley then had a nervous wait till late Saturday afternoon before he got the chance to line up in the Long Jump which was one of the last events. Ashley went into the event fresh from finishing secnd at the English championships two weeks ago. After starting with a nervous 6.24m Ashley jumped out to 6.82m in the second round just short of the 6.85 he achieved 2 weeks ago. This was enough for Ashley to hold on for his second Silver medal at major championships this year. Ashley will now look at taking a short break before going into his winter training under the mentorship of one of the national coaches.