Primary games attract over 1200 competitors

Jul 2 2009 by Shirley Bartynek, Hamilton Advertiser

MORE than 1200 children took part in the fifth annual North Lanarkshire Council primary games at Wishaw sports centre.

They competed in a variety of sports including athletics, basketball, badminton, football, rugby, golf, tennis, judo and boccia.

The games promote sport and physical activity, with schools putting in many weeks of preparation beforehand.

The event usually take place over two days (Tuesday and Wednesday).

However, due to bad weather, the second day’s events were cancelled.

This year’s games were run on an Olympic theme, focusing on the Olympic values which were displayed on the back of the participants’ t-shirts.

And just like the Olympics, volunteering is at the heart of the Primary Games.

Many individuals from schools, colleges, universities and local sports clubs have given up their time and experience to make the games a success.

Chris Robertson, a top 10 UK athlete 400m runner and Peter and Stephen McGuire, Team GB Boccia players, were among the volunteers, encouraging the kids to get involved in sport and hopefully inspiring some to ‘go for gold’.