The Olympic Torch Relay may have left Girvan to continue its tour of the UK, but the legacy of the flame still burns brightly, as Kai Hilliard was one of two lucky pupils selected from over 35,000 other children as winners in a special Olympic competition.

The 10-year-old Girvan Primary pupil and 17-year-old Calum Stark from Queen Margaret Academy in Ayr took part in the Inspire-Aspire programme, which helps motivate young people to achieve more in their lives by learning about Olympic and Paralympic values.

Inspire-Aspire works by getting children to fill in their details on a special chart, setting their own goals and ambitions, linked to core Olympic values, giving each pupil the chance to think about the qualities and skills they will need to make a success of their future.

The pupils then had to select one athlete who had inspired them the most and write a page on how that Olympian could help them achieve their own goals in life.

Still fired up from seeing the Olympic Torch on Friday, June 8, the talented duo travelled up to Hampden Park to pick up their Olympic awards later that day.

Kai's goals were centred on the ideals of honesty and sharing. He said: "I am good at being honest because lying is NOT something I encourage but I know I need to work on being generous because I never share sweets and food."

The charts were sent to Inspire-Aspire, who judged the best entries from a total of 35,000 across Scotland and only 100 were selected as winners – with Kai and Calum selected from South Ayrshire.

Councillor Margaret Toner, Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning, said: "Kai and Calum are fantastic young pupils. Their enthusiasm and motivation are catching and I really believe they will go on and achieve the goals they have set for themselves.

"It's thrilling that Kai and Calum were selected as winners in South Ayrshire and they were outstanding ambassadors for us and their schools at the awards ceremony.

"The Inspire-Aspire programme delivered real benefits to the pupils in our schools and got everyone thinking about how they could achieve their personal goals based on Olympic values.

"We'll continue to do everything we can to support them and all of our pupils in South Ayrshire to make sure each and every one of them go on to achieve their full potential as the inspirational citizens of tomorrow."

Calum added: "When I found out that I was the winner I could not believe it. I felt so excited and was so happy.

"I knew that my mum and dad would be so proud of me. I felt nervous, but good and proud at the same time when I went to the award ceremony."