THE winners of next year's Lancashire Youth Games events will take part in a national final that is being billed as the second largest sporting event after the Olympics.

The British Athletics Association's Millennium Youth Games will be held in Southampton next August and is expected to attract 6,800 competitors from around the country.

Sport England anticipate that the games will be one of the highest profile mass sporting events ever staged in the UK - and the biggest ever youth event in the world.

Blackburn with Darwen Council will again host the Lancashire Youth Games and it is already planning to make sure next year's event is the best yet.

More than 4,000 children from Lancashire's 14 local authorities are expected to take part - making it one of the biggest of the 38 regional finals.

In all, 250,000 competitors will take part in those regional finals to try and book a place in the grand finale in Southampton.

The Lancashire Youth Games has been running for the past three years and next year's event will be centred around Witton Park.

Witton Park will stage all the events apart from basketball and swimming which will be held at Blackburn College and Daisyfield Swimming Pool. In total, there will be eight sports: athletics, basketball, tennis, swimming, rugby, hockey, netball and football.

And there will also be a chance for disabled athletes to take part in swimming and football events.

The winning team from each event will then go on and represent Lancashire in the Millennium Youth Games.

Gill O'Hare, the council's Lancashire Youth Games co-ordinator, has already attended a three day seminar in Southampton and a North West meeting in Widnes.

She said: "This is going to be a massive event and we are gearing up for those finals in Southampton. We have changed the format of the Lancashire Youth Games slightly to make it even better. Instead of holding the Games at venues around Blackburn, we are concentrating our efforts on Witton Park.

"Apart from the swimming and basketball events, Witton Park is going to be a hive of activity come June 24 and 25.

"We are trying to organise all the qualifying rounds for the Saturday and make Sunday and grand finale day. We want it to be a real carnival atmosphere."

She added: "While the Lancashire Youth Games is one of the biggest in the country it is still one of the newest so we need support from sponsors and volunteers if it is to continue to flourish."

Anyone who would like further information should contact Gill O'Hare on 01254 660232.

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