County kids are Allstars in sportshall.

A GROUP of talented young athletes scooped the regional title in the Aviva Sportshall competition at Sunderland's Seaburn Centre.

The under-11 girls from Tyne and Wear Allstars won the competition by 31 points, with Tyne and Wear Olympians grabbing third place.

The under-11 boys from the Olympians finished an impressive second, with the Allstars fifth.

Those performances could lead to some of the budding young athletes competing at the UK Championships at Birmingham NEC next year.

That will depend on how well the selected few do when they represent the county later this month.

Tyne and Wear Olympians got the show on the road with an impressive victory in the first event of the day, the obstacle relay.

It would also be the same result in the 1x1-lap race as the girls streaked away from the pack to claim the 30 points.

Top points would also be collected in the six-lap paarlauf and hurdles relay, with the Tyne and Wear Allstars' girls capturing top points in the over and under event.

For the boys in both teams, only the Allstars managed to achieve top points with a win in the sixlap paarlauf.

The Olympians battled hard to claim second place in the obstacle relay for 28 points.

In the field events. the girls again managed to rise to the occasion, the Olympians scoring maximum points in the balance test, chest push, speed bounce, standing long and triple jump events.

The Allstars did not manage maximum points, but did claim second places in the standing long and standing triple jump.

The boys from the Olympians squad scored the maximum points of 30 in the chest push, javelin and standing triple jump, the Allstars snatching second in the balance test.

Team managers Andrea Fyall and Liane Brown were delighted with how well the children perfromed.

Fyall said: "The children had a fantastic day and the teams had plenty of success. I am very proud of their efforts."