Pupils from Aughton St Michael’s Church of England Primary School are celebrating after securing a place at the largest youth sporting event in Lancashire, following victory in a primary orienteering competition.

The students gathered in bitterly cold conditions at Tarleton Academy to battle it out against 16 other teams and will now represent West Lancashire at the SPAR Lancashire School Games county finals where they will compete against teams from 14 other Lancashire districts in a bid to be crowned county champions in primary orienteering.

Chris Hart, school games organiser for West Lancashire, who arranged the event, said: “Despite the freezing conditions, all pupils did amazingly well in this year’s West Lancashire primary orienteering competition.

“Each pair from the winners Aughton St Michael’s found all the tough clues, so they’re worthy winners and I wish them all the best at the county finals.”

Organised by Active Lancashire, the SPAR Lancashire School Games comprises a series of inclusive sporting events that provides competitive and participative opportunities for all school children across the county. Children across Lancashire will continue to battle it out in a range of sports to gain a place at the SPAR Lancashire School Games county finals which will be held at Blackpool’s Stanley Park on July 3.

More than 3,500 children from schools across Lancashire’s 15 districts are now battling it out for a place at the county finals in 16 sports including gymnastics, football, athletics, mixed cricket and touch rugby. New additions to the SPAR Lancashire School Games line-up have also been introduced for 2018, including quick sticks and quad kids.

The SPAR Lancashire School Games is the biggest school games programme of its kind and is implemented by the county’s school games organisers.

This year will mark the twelfth year the county’s school games programme has been sponsored by James Hall & Company Ltd, the SPAR distributors for the north of England. Over £128m of National Lottery and Government funding has been invested into the school games programme.