EARBY Primary School are the latest to be inducted in to the ‘hall of fame’ after showing off their all-round indoor sporting talents.

After a series of qualifying heats, the top six schools in the borough battled it out to be crowned Pendle primary school sportshall champions.

And it was a very strong Earby team who were crowned outright winners after the 30 events.

However, the strength of sportshall athletics in the borough is very strong underlined by the fact the only seven points separated the next six schools.

A total of 25 schools took part in the Year Three/Four competition and with no place in a Lancashire final at stake - that is for the older age groups - it was all about local bragging rights.

The annual event was held at Pendle Vale College and was well attended by parents who supported the pupils competing in running, jumping and throwing events for their school.

The six schools to make it through to the grand final were eventual champions Earby, Blacko, Wheatley Lane, Laneshawbridge, Marsden and Christ Church.

Youngsters competed in a range of sports that tested their abilities to the full.

Events contested included the throwing events of sponge javelin, basketball chest push, jumping events speed bounce, vertical jump, standing long Jump and five stride Jump and also the relay races of two, four and six laps.

In what was a real team event, two pupils from each team compete in each event.

While Earby proved to be the stand-out school - finishing with an impressive total of 169 points - the real battle was for second and third place.

And it could not have been any tighter with those positions not decided until the very last event with any one of the five schools in with a shout of finishing second.

As it was, it was Blacko who finished as runners-up with 102 points, just two ahead of Wheatley Lane.

Laneshawbridge agonisingly missed out of a top three place by a single point with Marsden fifth with 97 points and Chris Church sixth with 95 points.

The excitement was not lost on watching parents and school-mates or Neil Stewart, Pendle School Games Organiser, who coordinated the event.

“This is the closest competition I have had in eight years,” said Stewart. “Earby had a very strong team and were outright winners after 30 events but the other team scores were exceptionally close with only seven points between them.

“All teams should be congratulated on their efforts and team work to produce such an outstanding event.”

Teams qualified for the final having taking part in five cluster school events. One team qualified from each heat with two winning through from another having finished on equal points. While Earby don’t go on to represent the borough in the Lancashire School Games, all the pupils from the other schools got a taste of competing at this level.

“They don’t go on to a county event,” confirmed Steward.

“But over the next few years, they will have the opportunity to compete again in Year Five and Six, Year Seven and Year Eight.

“The winners of these three competitions do go on to represent the borough in the County School Games final.”