Winchester children look forward to summer of sport (From Romsey Advertiser)
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Winchester children look forward to summer of sport
10:00am Friday 23rd March 2012 in Winchester
Peter Symonds student Will Short (left) and St Bede pupil Angelina Gibson celebrate ahead of this year's Personal Bests event, alongside Olympic Torchbearer Sydney Dean
Winchester children are getting ready to put themselves to the test this summer in the spirit of the London Olympics.
Thousands of children from primary schools across the city will take part in the 2012 Personal Bests event in June.
It sees children compete in Olympic-themed sports trying to break their own times and records rather than take on each other.
The final of the event takes place on June 27 at Winchester Sports Stadium in Bar End, with more than 2,000 children expected to attend.
Pupils from St Bede Church of England Primary School and students from Peter Symonds College gathered at the launch of the official Winchester Olympic Torch route on Monday (March 19) to promote the event.
Year 4 pupil Angelina Gibson, 9, said: “I’m really excited because we get to do all these activities. The previous Year 4 took part last year and it looked really fun so I can’t wait.”
Classmate Tom Stockdale, also 9, added: “I’m really looking forward to it but it is going to be hard because some of the events are really challenging.”
Peter Symonds students have been working with the pupils to help them train for the event.
Student Will Short, 17, said: “It’s a really good programme because it gets kids into sports might take up in the future at a higher level and it’s more about doing the best you can than competing.”
Mr Short, of Glendale, Swanmore, added: “Because they aren’t competing against each other it also means there’s no fear of being embarrassed by their performance in the events.”
