HUNDREDS of children took part in the Henley Youth Festival fun run on Saturday.

Children from primary schools competed against one another in their respective age groups in a field next to Swiss Farm, off Marlow Road.

Reception and year 1 and 2 children ran a short course while years 3 and 4 completed a loop around the hill and years five to six did two.

Before each race, Danielle Buckle, of the Physiolistic physiotherapy clinic, led a warm-up to Taylor Swift’s Shake it Off.

At the finish line, Mayor Kellie Hinton gave each child a medal and congratulated them.

Those who came first, second and third were invited on to the podium to receive a certificate.

Valley Road Primary School was awarded £250 for having the largest number of participants. The money will go towards the school’s sports equipment.

The event was set up in 2019 by Clint and Angela Botha, who own Physiolistic, which is based at Dry Leas, the home of Henley Rugby Club.

Mrs Botha said: “My son did a lot with the youth festival. He entered all the competitions and we thought it would be really nice if we had a run as well.

“It’s great to see the kids having so much fun and doing physical activity. That’s what we’re all about —- we want to encourage people to do physical activity and have fun.

“It’s great to be involved. Our son has been inspired and is going into film-making because of the youth festival.”

In the reception children’s race, Isaac Cottle, five, of Sonning Common Primary School, came first, followed by Theo Wilkinson, four, of Trinity Primary School, and Harrison Barr, five, of Rupert House.

Isaac said the course was “good” and “quite easy” and that he was proud of himself.

The year 1 and 2 girls’ race was won by Phoebe Souls, seven, of Nettlebed Primary School, followed by Alice O’Brien, seven, of Trinity, and Freya Haman, seven, of Kidmore End Primary School.

Phoebe said: “I am happy. It was a hard course.”

In the boys’ race, Finley Stowell, seven, of Trinity, won and was followed by Wilf Goodson, seven, of Kidmore End, and Seth Drummond, six, of Valley Road.

Finley said: “I feel proud and exhausted. I found the course a bit difficult on the hill but I kept going.”

The year 3 and 4 girls’ race was won by Teddy Molnar, nine, from Rupert House. In second place was Ellie Smith, nine, from Sacred Heart Primary School, followed by Olivia Greaves, nine, from Peppard Primary School.

Teddy said: “It was my first time winning and I was against really good runners. Competing was so fun. I thought the course was harder than last year’s but I felt really good doing it, even on the hill.”

The boys’ race was won by Joseph Palmer, nine, from Shiplake Primary School, with Frank O’Brien, nine, from Trinity, second and Joseph Conway, seven, from Nettlebed, in third.

Joseph said: “It was good but hard and a bit bumpy.”

Frank added: “It was good. I do a lot of running but I don’t often do cross country — I do football.”

The year 5 anbd 6 girls’ race was won by Emily Palmer, 11, of Shiplake, with Harriet McLean, 10, of Trinity, in second and Ruby Jones, 10, of Peppard, in third.

Emily said: “I feel great. It was fun running and is the sort of thing I like to do — I do it a lot.” Harriet said: “The hills were quite hard but I feel good, although out of breath.”

Ruby said: “It was good. It was quite hard as there were a lot of hills.”

The boys’ race was won by Ambrose Paviour, 10, of Kidmore End, followed by Othello Forbes, nine, of Rupert House, and Lucas Johnston, 10, of Peppard. Ambrose said the race had been “fun”.

Simone Schafer, a physiotherapist at Physiolistic, who organised the racing, said: “This is our community outreach. It’s us engaging with the community and giving a little bit back because the festival is a charity.

“It’s getting people active and interested in health, which is huge for us as physios.”

Laura Law, chairwoman of Henley Youth Festival, said: “Physiolistic run it so well and all the children have a really great time because they get them really excited about it. The children love getting a medal.

“It’s also nice to see the schools coming together. The festival isn’t just the performing arts, it’s activities to get the children involved and doing something different on a wet March morning.”

Councillor Hinton said: “Henley Youth Festival is a fantastic event which brings lots of children together.

“I love this because it gets everybody of primary school age outdoors and active. Anything that promotes that is really good, not just for their physical health but their mental health too.

“There’s an element of competition which gives it that extra excitement and the children get a medal. It’s a feelgood community event.”