TWO thousand young people will join Olympic and Paralympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville and an Olympic athletics star for a momentous art and sporting event.

Dorset’s biggest ever schools sporting and art event will be taking place in Weymouth tomorrow with special guests including 4x100m relay gold medallist Jason Gardener.

The Art of Sport Festival, hosted at Redlands Community Sports Hub, will also feature the official London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville.

Pupils from 15 Dorset schools will be trying an unique range of sports and arts activities, from 9.30am until 2.30pm, under the expert coaching of some 250 university and college student volunteers and coaches There will be 60 activities running simultaneously throughout the day, including rocketball, tchoukball, ultimate-frisbee, sports journalism, radio broadcasting, dance and aerial art.

It is being run by the Regional Educational Legacy for Arts and Youth Sport (RELAYS) team and Weymouth College with support from Bournemouth University, the Arts University College at Bournemouth, West Dorset School Sports Partnership, Dorset County Council and Active Dorset.

The third annual festival follows a spectacular event last year, which saw hundreds of pupils stand in formation wearing coloured T-shirts to create an aerial view of the Olympic rings. The festival is part of the London 2012 Inspire programme.

Virginia Bailey, of the RELAYS Project Team from Bournemouth University, said: “The festival forms an important part of the community and sports development in the area and, with less than 100 days to go to the London Games, the event draws upon the Olympic and Paralympic values as inspiration.

“Not only is this the biggest Art of Sport yet, it is also a record in terms of the amazing number of volunteers giving up their time and skills to help.

“The magic of RELAYS has been its ability to engage with young people through the enthusiasm and inspiration that students can offer.”

Ben Heath, event organiser from Weymouth College added: “We are extremely fortunate to have so many university and college volunteers to help run the activities and inspire the school children.

“The natural inspiration that these volunteers impart reinforces our aim to encourage participation and may even nurture budding talent by providing the children with Olympic and educational aspirations of their own.”

Seb Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, said he was ‘proud’ of the Games vision.

He said: “The Art of Sport Festival is encouraging young people to fulfil their potential.

“I am proud that with the help of partners such as RELAYS and Weymouth College we are delivering on our vision to use the power of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games to boost participation in sports and arts.”