The Department of Community, Culture and Leisure is pleased to announce that the first ever Manx trials in Sports Hall Athletics were held by Isle of Man Athletics Association on Saturday 6th and 13th November. The trials are part of the selection process for a team of 30 boys and girls who will represent the Isle of Man at the Fun in Athletics North West Regional final at Sport City in Manchester. Athletics Development Officer, Trevor Christian said, “Selecting the team will be difficult as there are so many excellent young athletes on the squad. They will be assessed not only on their athletic performance but their commitment to training, teamwork, fair play and most importantly, having fun!” The trials consisted of two heptathlon events, hosted at Ballakermeen High School. Children from school years 5 and 6 took part in events such as the Hi-Stepper, Shuttle, Speed Bounce, Foam Javelin, Standing Long Jump, Chest Push, Vertical Jump and 10 x 10m shuttle. There were many outstanding performances on the day. Times and distances in each event converted to points to give each athlete an overall award certificate. Certificates were based on a ten point scale progressing to bronze, silver and gold awards. All athletes taking part received certificates and across the two trials an amazing 46 bronze awards, eight silver and four gold were issued. Isle of Man Sport kindly donated towards the costs of transporting the team to the regional final which takes place on Sunday 23rd January 2011. Mr Christian added, “The IOMAA would like to give a big thank you to all the volunteers who have made the trials and training sessions possible and to Isle of Man Sport for their financial support. Thanks must also go to Flybe who have been extremely helpful in rearranging their winter flight schedule to enable the trip to take place. Without their assistance the team selected will not be able to get to the final in January.” ENDS