FAST and furious action was the order of the day at Bolton St Catherine's Academy's latest sporting event.

The academy in Stitch-Mi-Lane welcomed teams from six other schools in the area for their annual Year 5 and 6 handball competition, with the Bernard Lynam Cup going to the winners.

One of the fastest sports around, handball is a seven-a-side game in which the aim is to throw the ball into the opponents' goal, without entering the goalkeeper's D-zone. Touching the ball with any part of the body below the knee is not allowed and competitors can take a maximum of three steps and have a maximum of three seconds in possession before passing or shooting.

The teams gathering at the academy were split into two groups for a round-robin format, with the group winners and runners-up progressing to the semi-finals.

In Group A Red Lane topped the table with two wins and a draw and they were joined in the final four by the host school's A team, meaning St Osmund's and Tonge Moor missed out.

Two wins and a draw was also enough for Moorgate to finish top of Group B, with Bolton St Catherine's B team progressing as runners-up, ahead of St Stephen's and Blackshaw.

The St Catherine's teams were both knocked out in the semi-finals, the A team after a narrow 2-1 defeat to Moorgate and the B team following their 5-0 loss to Red Lane.

The B team were at least able to finish their tournament on a high with victory in the third-place play-off.

The competition final was over almost as quickly as it had begun, with Red Lane scoring three times inside the first minute and a further three goals to seal their victory, Moorgate managing a late consolation to make the final score 6-1.

Organiser Barry Leese, a PE teacher at St Catherine's, said: “Red Lane were superb throughout with each player knowing his job, so credit must go to their coach, Adam Brindle.

"In Kenzie Jones and Callum Chadwick they had the stand-out players of the tournament, two lads who could have a bright future in the game."