Harry 9, beats thousands in Top Trump championship bid

Forest View Academy pupil Harry - aged only nine - is one of 12 bright youngsters from across the country, most older than himself, who each beat thousands in challenging heats to make it to the UK Top Trumps finals in Chester.

The Grand Finals of the National Top Trumps Schools Tournament takes place next Saturday (July 8) at Chester Zoo, Britain’s most visited zoo.

If he wins Harry will be presented with a gleaming trophy.

Forest View teacher Gareth Clarke said: “Each year I enter the school into the Schools’ Top Trumps Championships with the the hope that one day our school champion may go all the way and win at the national finals.

“Harry beat 71 other children at school and I registered him online where he played 3,600 children over a three week period.

“He made it to the top 12 on the leaderboard.

Not bad for a nine year old boy who lacked confidence and had never entered anything like this before. We are all proud of him.”

Harry said: “I’m really excited about getting to the finals but I’m a bit nervous.”

He puts his fantastic feat down to memorising the Top Trumps Awesome animals pack. His favourite trump cards are Scruffy the monkey, Markel the meerkat and Tash the elephant.

In recognition of this year’s Top Trumps Schools Tournament theme of ‘Amazing Animals’ if Harry won, he would also see his trophy ‘trumped’.

The winner gets to interact with and adopt a meerkat from Chester Zoo, and see a unique plaque unveiled in their name at the Meerkat enclosure.

The Top Trumps Schools Tournament, which attracts entrants from aged six to 11 from across the UK, is now in its 8th year.

Each year the event is themed around one child-appealing subject. This year it is ‘AwesomeAnimals’. The final will be played using a Top Trumps Tournament deck made up of cuddly (and not so cuddly!) creatures from African Elephants to Tiger Sharks.

This year Top Trumps makers have teamed up with conservationists from Chester Zoo, which is the UK’s most visited Zoo and home to over 15,000 animals and 500 different species.

Claire Simon from Winning Moves UK – owners and makers of the Top Trumps brand – said today: “Congratulations to Harry, we wish him all the very best in the Grand Finals. He is already a champion of his school, and to be one of just 12 elite Grand finalists from a starting line-up of very many thousands is amazing.”

Harry’s personal Top Trump ratings supplied by himself:

Size 7, Mischief 89, Age 9, speed 50, opponents beaten 3,600