THE Prince of Wales Stadium in Cheltenham hosted young county athletes at the annual Shine@Athletics event.

Initiated by UK Athletics following the 1992 Olympics, the event was started in Cheltenham by Carolyn Franks and has continued in some form every year since.

Elliot Prince took the event on four years ago and has developed it into the successful three-day festival it is now.

More than 60 children took part each day alongside volunteer coaches, team leaders and helpers.

Aimed at nine to 13-year-olds, the camp introduces young, budding athletes to every discipline in track and field.

They also had the chance to compete as teams in fun competitions such as speed bounce, standing long jump, standing triple jump and balance testing.

The second day saw national level athletes Neil Crossley (decathlon/javelin) and Alex Warner (hammer) spend time talking about their career in athletics and answering questions from the children.

They were able to give advice and relate their experiences of training, coaching, competitions, diet and lifestyle.

Athletes were also reminded how last year James Brewer came to assist at Shine@Athletics, and this month he has made the tremendous advance to compete in the World Championships in Berlin, Germany.

The final day featured the Shine Awards, in which all athletes had the chance to compete in endurance runs, sprint-hurdles, throws and jumps to see what marks they could achieve against a nationally recognised scoring scheme.

Many achieved gold standard and will be sent certificate awards.

The afternoon's proceedings were led by nationally recognised top level Forest of Dean coach Dave Lucas, as teams competed against each other in tug of war, orienteering and the finale of the day the Grand Prix Obstacle Relay.

Negotiating themed obstacles, including a tower of foam beds made to look like the Berlin Wall, the youngsters pitted all their skills in an all-out team effort.