After weeks of sleepless nights and excitement, 64 school children from across the North East were finally able to battle it out in the bid to get their hands on the Tennis Challenge Trophy.

On Friday we saw Durham Lane Primary of Eaglescliffe lift the trophy as winners of the first of many annual tournaments held by The Tony Blair Sports Foundation. Runners up were Chandlers Ridge Primary of Nunthorpe. Both teams received the prize of a lifetime; being invited to the National Tennis Centre for the day to receive a coaching session from a top junior coach. The winners will have a tour of the centre, which includes indoor and outdoor courts, fitness suites and a sports science centre.

Caroline Blincoe, LTA Head of Counties and Clubs, said:

It's been brilliant to see so many kids and schools involved in this new annual Tony Blair Foundation competition. We'd like to congratulate all of those who played today - getting to the final is a big achievement against tough competition. And whether they won today or not, we hope to see everyone involved in tennis throughout the year, at school, in the park or at their local club. And we look forward to seeing the winners at the National Tennis Centre in London for a special training session later in the year.

All the children that took part in Fridays event received certificates, medals and goodie bags donated by Northumbrian Water and all children had the opportunity to meet with Tony Blair himself.

When presenting the prizes, Tony Blair said:

This is a fantastic day. This is one of the first things that the foundation has put together and I'm amazed and utterly delighted at how it has turned out. The interesting thing has been to see the improvement in play as the tournament has progressed. Well done to everyone involved.

The challenge has been a tremendous success with plenty of smiles and laughs from all involved. In total, 256 school children played over 488 matches at this year's event and in addition to this, 960 Year 4 school children received a free group tennis lesson from a professional coach provided to the schools by the Lawn Tennis Association.

Jeanette Pickard, Chief Executive said:

The children have been fantastic and the quality of the tennis played has been particularly good. Some of the children have never played before and the Foundation has given them the opportunity to try something different and exciting. The Foundation is hoping that next year's event will be even bigger and better.

The Tony Blair Foundation tennis competition has given hundreds of kids an opportunity to experience how much fun tennis competition can be. It's a great sport you can play throughout your life and we hope these tournaments have inspired many of those taking part to keep playing and competing. From everyone at British tennis I'd like to say a huge thank you to the Foundation and to the many volunteers that have run such great events over the last few weeks. Tennis, like many sports, can't function without volunteers and I hope we can use their expertise in running other local competitions.

This years Challenge Cup Facts:

32 schools applied for the 2008 Competition
256 children entered the 2008 Competition
4 area qualifiers with 8 schools at each qualifier
64 children competing at each qualifier
960 children received a free group tennis lesson
80 mini-red courts used over the 4 qualifiers and grand final
320 rackets played with over the 4 qualifiers and grand final
488 singles matches played throughout the Competition
56 volunteers helped out with the Competition
12 volunteers will take their Level 1 Coaching Award
2 volunteers will take their Level 2 Coaching Award
2240 metres of masking tape used to mark out the mini-red courts