COMPETITIVE spirit was high on the agenda at Sunday's fifth annual North Yorkshire Youth Games in York.

More than 1,200 athletes aged between nine and 16 took part in the mammoth event held at Huntington and Joseph Rowntree schools and the Rawcliffe Bar country park - the second time the city has played host to the games since its inception in 2000.

Andy Pope, a community leisure officer for City of York Council, was one of three key organisers for the event, and said he was delighted with how it went.

He said: "It was superb. The highlights for me were seeing more than 100 kids doing the sports hall athletics - and the noise that they made when they were doing it.

"And to have 300 girls playing football on the sports fields at the same time was quite impressive.

"But I think the main highlight for me was the second and third-placed play-off between York and Harrogate in the moderate learning difficulties boys' football.

"York won 3-1 but the score didn't really matter as the game itself was full of competitiveness, players really getting stuck in, and in terms of the skill levels and aggression the standard was very high.

"It slightly detracts from the whole point of the Games but the not wanting to lose and what it meant to the team when they won were just fantastic and really summed up the day for me."

Ryedale's 175-strong team was the biggest winner of the day, taking six of the 18 trophies on offer including the prestigious fair play award.

Other wins came in the under-14s girls' basketball, under-15 girls' football, under-16 boys' moderate learning difficulties football, under-11s orienteering and the mixed hockey.

Youngsters with disabilities took part in the Sport Ability discipline which pitted competitors against each other in boccia - a form of wheelchair boules similar to petanque - and new-age kurling. The on-land cousin of the traditional winter sport uses wheels on the stones so it can be played without ice.

Host district York came up trumps in the combined discipline.

Richmondshire enjoyed a number of successes in the table-tennis, mixed under-11 tag rugby union and the boys' hockey and basketball events.

The mixed tag rugby league prize went to Scarborough with Harrogate's girls' winning the under-14s tag rugby union. Scarborough's girls also won the hockey.

Selby's girls' football teams were on target in the under-11 and under-13 age groups, the netball prize went to Harrogate and Scarborough ran off with the athletics crown.

Pope added: "It was the fifth time we have run it and in terms of the overall day it's probably the best one we have had.

"We had 1,200 young people taking part from eight districts and every child who was there enjoyed themselves.

"The emphasis of the event has always been on participation and about giving people who wouldn't normally have the opportunity to represent their district the chance to do so. And we also had a small army of volunteers on the day who made sure that everything went smoothly."

Updated: 11:06 Wednesday, May 26, 2004