With sub-zero temperatures outside, the atmosphere inside Bracknell Leisure Centre was red hot throughout last Friday’s competition.

The event is organised by the Borough Council’s Leisure Section in conjunction with Bracknell Athletics Club and English Athletics as part of the Young People in Sport Scheme.

In the morning four secondary schools battled for the right to represent Bracknell Forest at the Berkshire finals in March.

The teams were evenly matched, with points shared in the early track events.

Ranelagh opened with their girls winning the obstacle race, while Edgbarrow took the honours in the boys’ race.

Garth Hill then picked points by winning the girls two-lap race. Brakenhale were a little bit behind, but still picked up useful points, particularly in the paarlauf.

It was a similar pattern in the field events with the top three teams sharing the points and Brakenhale putting in the occasional excellent performance.

By the final track event, the overall result was still in doubt. In the girls event Ranelagh held off Garth’s challenge to score 118 points, winning by 10. Edgbarrow finished on 91 points and Brakenhale 72.

In the boy’s section, Edgbarrow took full points from the paarlauf and relay to finish on 111 points. Garth were second on 98 followed by Ranelagh (92) and Brakenhale (88).

In the overall reckoning Ranelagh took the gold medals with 210 points, just four ahead of Garth and eight ahead of Edgbarrow.

In the afternoon, the 12 qualifying primary schools from the heats earlier in the month came together for a memorable final, ultimately decided in the very last event of the day.

With terrific support from an enthusiastic crowd, the primary school teams set an exceptional standard from the very first race, with Whitegrove taking the girl’s hurdles relay from Winkfield St.Mary’s.

Winkfield St.Mary’s also won the boy’s hurdles by a whisker from College Town.

In the vertical jump for girls, Holly Spring almost jumped out of the hall, but consistent jumping from Binfield gave them first place.

After five events Ascot Heath and Winkfield St.Mary’s were tied on 88 points, with Whitegrove just behind on 86. Binfield were fourth with 72 points and then seven teams all had between 54 and 68 points.

After a second round of field events and the individual sprint races, the scores were just as close at the half way stage.

Winkfield St.Mary’s had opened up a slight lead with 180 points thanks to a first place in the boy’s and a second place in the girl’s sprints.

Whitegrove held onto second with 166 points, two ahead of Ascot Heath, who were in turn two ahead of Binfield.

The second half began with the two-lap relays and then two sets of field events including the quick-fire speed bounce.

Winkfield St.Mary’s took first place in both relays, but good performances in the field by Whitegrove closed the gap to just eight points.

Ascot Heath and Binfield were unable to keep the pressure on the top two, but were developing a battle of their own for third, with Meadow Vale and College Town enjoying some good results to reach over 200 points.

The final set of field events did little to change the picture, although Binfield did close the gap for third place.

At the start of the frantic last relay events, Winkfield St.Mary’s had 346 points from Whitegrove with 334. In the battle for bronze, Ascot Heath led Binfield by 282 points to 274.

The girl’s relay went first with Ascot Heath winning ahead of Binfield.

College Town came third, while fourth place for Whitegrove enabled them to pick up two points on the leaders.

The final races took place amid a cacophony of noise with the overall result decided in the final heat with all three contenders for medals taking part.

The decisive moment came very early in the race. There was nothing to choose between the teams when disaster struck as Winkfield St.Mary’s dropped the baton and it seemed to take an eternity before they recovered.

There were no such problems for Binfield who took first place, with Whitegrove just behind.

Binfield’s brilliant last run put them two points ahead of Ascot Heath and therefore gave them the bronze medals.

Whitegrove’s second place in the relay and their refusal to let Winkfield St.Mary’s get away from them was rewarded with first place and the gold medals.

The unlucky Winkfield St.Mary’s team had the consolation of taking silver medals at the end of a fantastic afternoon of sport.

The newly installed Bracknell Forest Mayor, Andy Blatchford, presented the successful teams with their medals.

For lots more pictures, buy a copy of this week's Bracknell News.