BURY'S 400-strong squad did the town proud by finishing third in the biggest-ever Greater Manchester Youth Games event held at weekend.

The talented local athletes were among 6,000 from ten local authority areas competing in 16 different sports over two days.

And they produced some pretty spectacular results in individual events to claim overall third place for the town.

Bury sports development officer Jackie Veal said: "The youngsters from Bury excelled themselves at this year's Games. They led by example and were truly young sporting ambassadors of Bury.

"Collectively there was a real team spirit and we are very proud of their achievements."

The Bury rugby union squad - which included boys and girls - and the girls' football squad were particularly good, winning their events overall.

And of these, the under 12 boys' rugby union team were perhaps the most professional in taking their event. They started with superb 25-0 group-stage wins against Trafford, Tameside and an all-stars outfit who filled in for Bolton, who were unable to field a team. The Bury side then demolished Rochdale 30-0 in the semi-final and overwhelmed Wigan in a bone-crunching final, the 25-10 scoreline barely indicating the local team's superiority.

Bury's Buchanan was top try scorer in the event with 14 touchdowns. Many of the team play for the successful Sedgley Park under 12s team.

Boys and girls in age groups from under 9 to under 18 competed in team and individual events including Cricket, soccer and table tennis, together with less publicised sports such as volleyball, lacrosse and boccia. But once again the most popular event was Athletics, staged for the first time at Longford Park, the home of Stretford Athletics Club, where 1,250 youngsters were in competition.

The Bury squad members progressed from trial matches to a six-month training stint designed to ensure they were in the best possible shape for the weekend schedule.

Jackie added: "We are pretty delighted with the result but it would not have been possible without the volunteers who helped over the weekend and to the managers who helped to get the teams ready, not to mention the work they did in preparing and training the athletes.

"Bury Sports Development Unit would like to send a big thank you to all the people who helped."

The successful Bury teams were as follows:

Rugby Union overall winners: U12 boys - gold, U15 girls - silver, U11 Mixed - Bronze.

Girls' football overall winners: U14 girls - gold, U12 girls - silver.

Basketball: U18 girls - bronze.

Cricket: U12 boys - bronze.

Hockey: U15 boys - bronze, U13 boys - bronze.

Pop lacrosse: U12 - bronze.

Netball: U15 - silver, U13 - Plate winners - gold.

Athletics: Overall second.

Judo: Overall fourth.

Tennis: U15 - third.

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