IWAN THOMAS'S message rang out loud and clear at the close of Saturday's BAA Southampton Airport Hampshire Youth Games..

"Keep enjoying your sport. If you don't enjoy it, it's not worth doing it," he told the massed ranks of youngsters gathered at the end of eight thrilling hours of competition at sun-drenched Southampton Sports Centre and Eastleigh's Fleming Park.

Judging by the beaming faces around him, Southampton's European and Commonwealth 400 metres champion was preaching to the converted.

Led by a jubilant Isle of White contigent who, complete with their inflatable shark mascots, successfully defended their status as the county's top sporting authority - the cheers and smiles spoke volumes for the fun factor of the occasion.

It was a day of celebration from start to finish. With competition well under way in the sports of athletics, hockey, tennis, basket-ball, football, netball and swim-ming, the focus of attention turned briefly to the hospitality tent at the Sports Centre.

VIPs including Match of the Day pundit Trevor Brooking, the chair-man of the Sports Council and Olympic hurdler-turned-TV pre-senter Jon Rigeon plus a host of civic dignitaries gathered for the exciting announcement that Southampton is to host the first national finals of the BAA Millennium Youth Games in August 2000.

Responding to news that the city have been awarded £900,000 by the Sport England Lottery Fund to stage the finals plus a further £1 million to redevelop the athletics track and resurface the two all-weather pitches at the Sports Centre, Southampton City Council's head of leisure Paul Mawson said: "Southampton will be the jewel in the crown for sport in the UK in the year 2000 and the Millennium Games will leave a long-lasting legacy to our city.

"We must work together to make it a success and overcome any difficulties there might be." One such difficulty has already reared its head. Because Hampshire already has an eight-lane athletics track at Portsmouth, the strategy of the sport's governing body, UK Athletics, does not support the expansion of Southampton's track from six to eight lanes.

That news will please local cyclists who fear the loss of the city's only cycle track which surrounds the athletics circuit, but it has saddened local athletes clubs who believe the Millennium Games offer the perfect opportunity to upgrade facilities to national standard - particularly since their dreams of a new track vanished when plans for the community stadium at Stoneham died a death.

"Local athletes are keen to encourage their governing body to look at this again," confirmed Mawson. "From the City Council's point of view, we need to balance the needs of the cyclists with those of the athletes.

"We will work in close liaison with both groups to try and find a workable solution so that sport does not suffer as a result."

Converted for the new archive on 25 January 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.