DOUBLE Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes will visit the region tomorrow to see how young people are rising to a challenge she set them last year.

Dame Kelly will meet pupils from schools in the Sedgefield School Sport Partnership as part of the Norwich Union GirlsActive scheme.

At the end of last year, students and teachers helped to investigate the barriers that prevented teenage girls from doing more sport, and Dame Kelly challenged them to help get more girls involved.

The Sedgefield partnership produced such a good plan that it is one of five in the country selected for a visit from Dame Kelly.

Young people from nine schools in the borough will demonstrate activities such as cheerleading, dancing and Thai boxing at Spennymoor Leisure Centre.

Dame Kelly said: "It is a concern that research continuously shows that girls are more likely to drop out of sport than boys.

"I believe it is vital that school sport partnerships keep working with their pupils to develop strategies for getting more girls to participate in sport, both inside and outside of school hours, and deliver sporting activity that is designed specifically for girls to keep them interested."