Hundreds of workers swapped their office clothes for sportswear yesterday as they battled it out for honours in the Active Norfolk Corporate Games.

A record number of 50 teams took part in this year's event which saw 350 participants compete in a wide range of sports including archery, javelin, cycling and volleyball.

Former boxer Jon Thaxton kicked off the Admin Re sponsored event, held at the Sportspark of the University, with a warm-up, and GB archer Tom Barber was also on hand to give some archery tips.

And to mark year's forthcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games, there was a London 2012 theme to the tournament with an opening and closing ceremony and medals.

Vicki Hall, from Active Norfolk, said: 'We are really pleased with the turn-out. We've got 50 teams from all different sectors taking part in 10 different sports.

'It's an opportunity for them to network as well as a good team building day out and a day away from their desks.'

This year's event saw teams of up to seven from organisations including Odeon cinema, NHS Norfolk, Breckland Council, Greens Health and Fitness and city-based charity Nelson's Journey.

Natasha Felzon, from the Odeon at Riverside, said: 'We do quite a lot of sport-related activities at work so when we heard about this, we jumped at the chance.

'A couple of us are quite competitive, but it's all for fun really.'

Meanwhile, youngsters at Avenue Junior School swapped their school uniforms for clothes inspired by different Olympic nations. The Olympic opening ceremony was held at the Avenue Road school to mark their Games-theme work this half-term.

Each class chose a country to represent in the event as they paraded around the school grounds with flags and torches that they had made. They then gave a short performance to the rest of the school to celebrate the culture of their chosen countries.

Mike Hooper, deputy headteacher, said: 'With the Olympics almost upon us, we decided to involve the whole school in what we hoped would be a memorable version of our own Olympic opening ceremony.

'All of the children and staff worked extremely hard with some amazing work on show, including some brilliant capoeira to represent Brazil and a Haka to celebrate New Zealand.

'Internationalism is a big part of our curriculum and it was wonderful for the children to learn about other cultures and to get a taste of the international nature of the Olympics in such a fun way.'

Active Norfolk runs its free Fit4Work scheme to promote health and fitness to employees. For details, go to www.activenorfolk.org.

Have you got an Olympics-related story? Call Kate Scotter on 01603 772326.

Don't miss our next Olympics supplement, London Calling – free with the Evening News on June 26.