Local school children from across Yorkshire came together last Friday to set a new world record at Harewood House with the help of the Leeds Rugby Foundation.
Ninety five schools from across the county took part in the world's biggest ever tag rugby tournament with the magnificent stately home forming a fitting backdrop for the day long proceedings. Nearly a thousand junior school pupils, from years five and six, took part in the event which was the brainchild of the Leeds Rugby Foundation's Rugby Development Officer Gareth Cook. Commenting on the day Cook said, "It was fantastic to see so many young people, boys and girls, enjoy sport and spending time with their friends. All the schools have worked with the Foundation this school year either through the work of Leeds Rhinos or Leeds Carnegie and it was great to see the culmination of all the work done by our community staff over the past ten months come to fruition at the end of the school year."
The Leeds Rugby Foundation is the charitable trust who run the community activity for Leeds Rhinos and Leeds Carnegie rugby clubs working with children across Yorkshire, many of whom without the work down by the Foundation would never have access to playing rugby. Chris Rostron, General Manager of the Foundation added, "Congratulations must go to all our Foundation staff, in particular Gareth Cook, the many volunteers and most importantly the children for making this a unique occasion. Hopefully, this will be an event that will stay in the memories of all those who take part and they will continue to enjoy physical activity throughout their lives because of their experience of a great event like this. I would like to thank engage Mutual Assurance, who were terrific partners on this event along with Cravendale Fresh Milk, Lafarge, the RFL and the RFU, who all helped to make the day possible."
The Yorkshire youngsters beat the previous world record by over 500 pupils and discussions are already taking place about trying to surpass this year's figure in 2009.
The full list of winners were:
The Leeds Rugby Foundation Championship - Morley Newlands Primary, Morley
The Ronnie the Rhino Shield - Bramley St Peters, Leeds
The Carnegie Challenger Shield - Russell Hall Primary School, Bradford
The engage Mutual Assurance Shield - Shadwell Primary School, Leeds
The Harewood House Shield - Hillcrest Primary, Leeds and North Rigton Primary, North Yorkshire
To see our special gallery of winners from the Yorkshire Tag Rugby Festival click here