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The fun run gets underway

ENERGETIC youngsters ran and swam in a special sports day dedicated to tragic school boy James Salisbury at Sandy Balls Holiday Centre near Fordingbridge on Sunday.

James, 17, a Burgate School pupil and promising sportsman, was found dead in bed in his Hale home by his mother last October.

An inquest heard that he died of ventricular hypertrophy, a thickening of the muscle surrounding the left ventricle of the heart, which was caused by an underlying abnormality in the heart muscle.

Staff at Sandy Balls, where James was a lifeguard, planned the event, to be held annually, to raise money for the James Salisbury Sports Foundation Fund, set up by the young man's parents following their terrible loss.

The fund was set up to help those in school or college to get involved with sport and is especially concerned with those facing financial hardship.

It aims to fund coaching courses, training camps, transport to fixtures and to purchase special equipment or kit.

And more than £950 has been raised so far from the sports day which included a swimming gala between teams from Sandy Balls and Ringwood Seals Swimming Club, as well as a one mile and three mile running race.

Ringwood Seal were the winners of the swimming gala and took away the shield, supplied by Sandy Balls.

The one mile race was won by Matthew Granger, with his sister, Becky Granger in second place.

Third was Christian White.

The winner of the three mile race was John Powell who completed it in a very respectable time of around 15 minutes.

Philip Steichwand came second and Joshe Edwards was third.

Chris Evetts, duty manager at Sandy Balls Holiday Centre said: "There was a fantastic turn out and it was great to see all the people having fun in aid of the James Salisbury fund."

9:32am Friday 2nd May 2008

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