St Albans frisbee throwers have struck gold in international competitions.
Steve Balls, 34, a member of the St Albans Ultimate frisbee club, was crowned as world champion during the World Beach Ultimate Championships in Italy. He was taking part as a member of the Great Britain team.
The team also beat hot favourites the USA in the final of the competition, held in Lignano Sabbiadoro near Venice.
Balls said: “We knew there were other strong teams at the tournament, notably Germany and the USA.
“We got to play them both in pool games and, although we lost these matches, we learnt about their style of play and were then able to reverse these results in the games that mattered.
“I’ve never seen two such complete team performances as our semi and final games, and am very proud to be part of the World Championship winning side.”
In a second success for the St Albans Ultimate club, Tom Howard, 27, from Harpenden, coached the Great Britain Under-17 women’s team to gold at the European Youth Ultimate Championships in Poland.
Howard said: “I am extremely proud of what has been achieved this year by the GB girls.
“They have worked extremely hard since March to get to this point, and winning European gold is a testament to their talent, which the coaching team has helped hone. We will retain many players next year, and hope to defend our title in 2012.”
Ultimate Frisbee is non-contact sport played with a flying disc. The game itself is a mixture of American football and netball.