VICTORIA Juniors continued their Tri-Golf dominance as their Year 5 and 6 team claimed a fourth Furness title in as many years.

The Barrow Barrow school's A-team – many of them veterans of previous years' success at this and the younger Year 3/4 age-group – came out on top amid a cacophony of noise and excitement at Hoops.

Eight teams of 10 packed into the sports hall to contest the district final, each having qualified by right after impressive displays at their home turf under the tutelage of Barrow Golf Club's PGA professional Paul Rawlinson.

“It's fantastic to see all the kids here today,” said Rawlinson. “We've go about 160 kids (in both the Year 3/4 and Year 5/6 events), and we've seen about 1,000 kids in their own schools through the year. It's great to see them all loving it.

“We start in September, and so I haven't seen some of these kids since October – hopefully they've been practising their skills – but their standard is very good.

“You can see the big smiles on their faces.”

Two teams each from Victoria Juniors and St Paul's, plus one apiece from Yarlside Academy, Dane Ghyll, St James' and Low Furness, reached the last eight in order to battle it out for honours.

All the teams – made up of 10 boys and girls – tackled eight different challenges with gusto throughout a tight contest, vying to score as many points as possible and sit on top of the pile.

It was Victoria who showed the greatest mastery of tests such at Finders Keepers, Bullseye, and Driving for Show, Putting for Dough, displaying the skills which have seen them crowned county champions at the Cumbria School Games.

Those games saw them variously show off putting ability by hitting cones spread out before them, loft a ball with a wedge onto a velcro target, and launch it a good distance before sending a putting down the right line.

With all eight schools competing at once, there was a sense of chaos at times, but definitely organised chaos as school games organiser Oliver Carswell, Rawlinson and a team of leaders from Dowdales School oversaw events and ensured everything was done properly and went smoothly.

“We're showing them the main rules of the game and how we get along with it, working as a team” said sports leaders Josh Elgey, himself a member at Barrow Golf Club.

“They line up the ball, they take their time, they're very competitive – and they like to shout a lot!

“It keeps us on our feet and it's a good challenge for us all.”

Rawlinson is hopeful some of the children who have taken part in the Tri-Golf events will be inspired to take their interest in the sport further at local golf clubs.

He added: “I'd like to see some of them at the golf clubs. We should hopefully see some of them taking it up into proper golf.

“There is a lot of aiming, swinging, tempo-rhythm involved in Tri-Golf that you use in proper golf. It's not about hitting it too hard, it's about controlling the distance – it's proper golf sped up.”