PRIORSFORD pupils have been crowned East of Scotland Sportshall athletics champions yet again.

The primary six and seven pupils saw off challenges from nine other top schools, including Kingsland, at Meadowbank Stadium last week.

Priorsford and Kingsland claimed the right to represent the Borders at the district championships after landing the two top spots in Tweeddale and then the Borders-wide finals back in November.

Live Borders Active Schools Coordinator for Tweeddale, Paul Murray, is delighted with the success.

He told the Peeblesshire News: “Winning the East of Scotland final for a second time is a fantastic achievement by the pupils from Priorsford Primary School.

“Congratulations to Kingsland Primary School too on their excellent finish.

“Well done to all of the pupils involved and to PE teachers Mr. Edge and Mrs. Fletcher for all of their efforts in preparing the teams for these events”

Now a regular fixture on the primary athletics calendar the Sportshall events are contested over six track and six field events with a boys and girls team from each school taking part.

Points are added together at the end of the day to give an overall score.

The two Peebles representatives came up against some tough opposition in the finals with teams from Edinburgh, East Lothian, West Lothian and Midlothian also battling for the honours.

Having last won the title in 2014 Priorsford pulled out all the stops in order to win back their crown with Kingsland finishing a highly commendable fifth out of the 10 best teams in the East of Scotland.

Today Sportshall is the largest competition within the School Games framework and with an estimated user-base of well over one million children, Sportshall has more participants than any other school sport competition.

The programme focusses on fitness and multi-skill development providing a grounding for all sports. It is totally inclusive, encourages children to get fit and promotes friendship whilst having lots of fun. Sportshall also provides a stepping stone into after-schools sporting activity.

Additionally, Sportshall promotes a wide range of community benefits as it provides a focus for mums, dads and grandparents to actively come and support their children.