Cumbria Schoolympics launched by Carlisle School children

8th June 2011

Today marked the start of the offical count down to the 2011 Cumbria SCHOOLympics when the Cumberland Building Society as main sponsor of the event received the Schoolympics trophy back from last years winning district, Carlisle. Carol Graham from the Cumberland Building Society received the trophy back on behalf of Active Cumbria, who organise the event, from pupils from Carlisle's Stanwix and Nerwlaithes Schools at one of this years many qualifying events taking place at the Sheepmount Stadium in Carlisle.

Active Cumbria received sponsorship for £10,000 from The Cumberland Building Society to support this years Schoolympics along with support from Cumbria County Council, Carlisle Leisure Limited, Yorkshire Purhasing, Lloyds Motors, Angel Springs, Allerdale Borough Council and Copeland Borough Council. The handover was was made at the Sheepmount Stadium which is one of venues being used for this years SCHOOLympics Finals.

Richard Johnston, Partnership Manager at Active Cumbria said: "We are thrilled to have the Cumberland Building Society supporting the Cumbria SCHOOLympics again this year. Working in partnership with the School Sports Partnerships and the Competition Manager Network in Cumbria we are determined to make this year's event even better for the young participants. Last year we held the first Cumbria Schoolympics and it was a great event. This mass participation event is about inspiring young people to get involved in sport and physical activity in the run up to London 2012.  In this tough economic environment it is brilliant that all of our supporters have agreed to support the event for our young people."

Philip Ward, Cumberland Building Society, Marketing Manager, said:

"Cumberland Building Society is delighted to be supporting the second SCHOOLympics. The Games will provide a fantastic opportunity for Cumbrian school children to focus their interest in their chosen sport and introduce new sporting events to the sporting calendar of Cumbria. Who knows, perhaps a future British Olympian will take their first competitive steps in Carlisle this June."

Numerous local qualifying events are running up until 30th June led by the network of Competition Managers across the County. Qualifiers from various sports will be chosen to represent their local area on June 30th in Carlisle. The event will be supported by a team of 120 Young Sports Leaders from six Leadership Academies from across the County. Joanna McLean, Senior Competition Manager for Cumbria and Competition Manager for the Carlisle & North Cumbria School Sport Partnership said:

"The Competition Managers working within the six School Sports Partnerships have a busy schedule of events taking place over the next few weeks to select teams to represent their areas at the SCHOOlympics. The aim of the SCHOOlympics is to encourage as many youngsters as possible to use the power of sport to inspire them to take part in one of our new and exciting sports at a district level and represent their school, with the winners gathering to battle it out on the finals day on the 30th June. I am sure it will be a wonderful day for everyone involved."

Cllr John Woolley, Chairman of Cumbria County Council, who was also in attendance at the Launch event said:

"It is fantastic that the Cumbria Schoolympics is held to encourage the young people of our County to become more active. It is essential that we do all we can to encourage young people to become involved in sport and physical activity at the earliest possible age to encourage them to be active throughout their lives. I'm delighted that Cumbria County Council, through the Active Cumbria Team and many other partner agencies are able to support this extremely positive and worthwhile event."

Cllr Peter Taylor, Deputy Mayor of Copeland said:

"Copeland Borough Council are delighted to support the 2011 Cumbria Schoolympics, and Iknow trhat there have been many local qualifying events taking place right across Copeland to select teams for the finals event in Carlisle on 30 June. I would like to offer my congratulations to all the qualifying teams and I wish them the best of luck at the finals."

Cllr Mark Fryer, portfolio holder for Sport Development at Allerdale Borough Council said:
 
"It's great for Allerdale Borough Council to be able to support such a showcase event. It is the culmination of a lot of hard work from Schools and excellent performances from the young people throughout the year in local sports competitions. It's important that they get a chance to show what they can achieve and bring young people together from across the County. We wish all the competitors best of luck."