Hertfordshire’s sporting talent had their day in the sun at Herts Youth Games on Saturday (26th June).

More than 1000 school age children competed in ten different sports, including: Aquathlon (swimming/running), Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boccia (bowls), Cricket, Football, Netball, Table Tennis and Rugby.

The district teams, split into boys and girls, all wore distinct team colours, with East Herts winning the overall competition and Hertsmere and St Albans teams coming second and third place.

The day also featured demonstrations of Dodgeball, Rounders and Kendo martial arts and attracted an enthusiastic audience of over 2000 people and included a guest appearance by paralympic athlete Danny Crates, who overcame the amputation of his right arm after a horrific accident while travelling in Australia in 1994.

Tony Marmo, from the Herts Youth Games Association, said: “Danny, with his career as an 800m sprinter, and achievement of fifteen gold, silver and bronze medals won at World and European Championships and Paralympic Games over the past 20 years, proved to be a huge hit with our young competitors. His tenacity and will to succeed as well as well as his obvious enjoyment of life and sport are an inspiration to all budding athletes of all ages.”

Christine Neyndorff, Director of Herts Sports Partnership, one of the supporters of the event, said: “The spirit of Herts Youth Games epitomises what school sport should be about – participants are passionate about their individual sports and want to achieve their very best, and I would like to congratulate every child who took part. The success of the Herts Youth Games is a huge testament to the efforts of Tony Marmo and his team and the Sports Development teams from all district and borough councils in Hertfordshire.”
 

Team East Herts celebrate with paralympian Danny Crates, local mayors and councillors.

For a full list of results from Herts Youth Games click here and for photographs from the day click here.