AFTER three years, Bolton last night handed over the baton as hosts of the Connexions Greater Manchester Youth Games.

Subject to confirmation in the coming months, the Games will return home to Manchester for 2006.

But the new hosts will have a hard act to follow.

As Richard Saunders, chief executive of Greater Manchester Sports Partnership, said: "In a way, it's sad to move away because of the infrastructure we've built up in Bolton."

"Everything has run like clockwork, and this year has been no exception," added Saunders, under whose guidance the Games have become the largest event of its kind in the UK.

"But we need to challenge ourselves; to make sure we have the right sports and the right competition levels.

"We can't allow ourselves to get complacent. We want to see these Games go from strength to strength."

More than 4,000 youngsters representing 10 boroughs participated in 16 sports. And while the motto continues to be participation rather than prizes, competition level was, as always, fierce.

Certainly, Bolton were disappointed to finish without a gold medal. All the other nine authorities left with at least one title to their name.

Bolton had plenty of consolation, collecting a handful of silvers, notably in the swimming at Horwich Leisure Centre and on the tennis courts at the superb Bolton Arena.

The undisputed champions, though, of this two-day festival of sport and culture were Wigan - host of the Games prior to Bolton taking over.

The highlight for the Wiganers came in the first ever staging of new age kurling.

Contested

In a closely contested final with Salford, the title was only decided by the final stone.

The trio of Daniel Dawoud, Zak Farghaly and Anthony Burgoyne was subsequently selected to represent England in a forthcoming friendly international with Scotland.

The swimming pool once again belonged to Wigan, while there were other successes in the Under-12s girls' rugby union competition, Under-15s tennis, and Under-13s boys' rugby league.

Arguably the highest standards of competition came on the basketball courts, including one of the surprise results of the weekend.

Manchester were certainly hot favourites in the Under-13s boys' event, but it was Stockport who defeated Tameside in the final and then, just for good measure, completed a double by defeating Bury in the Under-13s girls' final.

Tameside's best results came in the Under 15s table tennis competitions, while they also struck gold in the Under-13 girls' cricket.

Stars of the soccer were Bury in the Under-12 girls and Manchester in the Under-14s events.

Celebrities joined the thousands of spectators who turned up at the five venues to lend their support to the events.

Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan helped launch the Games on Saturday afternoon, and also welcomed the Special Olympics Torch Run currently on its way from Manchester to Glasgow.

Manchester City and England goalkeeper David James also paid a visit to support the event, as did Manchester Magic's former NBA star John Amaechi.

Multi-medalled Paralympian Simon Jackson attended the Games in his capacity as judo coach to Rochdale, who picked up a silver medal in the novice age group.

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