HUNDREDS of county school pupils will feature in a major new sporting event this summer to celebrate the Olympic Games in London which was being launched in Devizes tomorrow (Wednesday).

A total of 1,400 children from 116 schools will tackle 10 sports including athletics, tennis, golf, swimming, rugby and gymnastics at the Wiltshire School Games in July.

The games will take place at a number of venues in Chippenham, with support from local sports clubs and Wiltshire Council.

A second day of competition will be for pupils with disabilities participating in a range of disability sports.

National Lottery funding will give schools the opportunity to participate in three levels of competition and the top performing pupils will compete in a national competition that will be held at the Olympic Park this year.

The games will be supported by 330 volunteers; half of whom will be young people and will be involved in all aspects of the events including officiating, reporting, scoring and other duties.

Keith Humphries, Wiltshire Council cabinet member for public health and protection, said: "These young people will be demonstrating their skills while the most famous sporting competition in the world is just around the corner.

"The competition is not just for high performers but for all those who take an interest in sport and we hope that for them this will be an experience they never forget."

The event was being launched at the Corn Exchange in Devizes with 200m world champion Paralympian and 100m and 4x100m bronze medallist Katrina Hart.

This year's event will be the first annual Wiltshire School Games event that will run up to 2017 and is part of the Sport England Olympic legacy programme

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