Two all-girl teams walked away with the top prizes at a Rotary Technology Tournament organised by the four Rotary clubs in St Albans and Harpenden.

The teams from Marlborough Science Academy and St Albans High School proved that girls can be just as emthusiastic about engineering and technology as boys.

Twenty eight teams, comprising a total of 110 students from nine secondary schools across the district, took part in the tournament held at Marlborough and organised by the St Albans, Priory, Verulamium and Harpenden Rotary Clubs.

They were tasked with designing and building a bridge that would withstand a 1kg weight using on paper and straws. There were three levels of difficulty, advanced, intermediate and foundation, and the advanced task also included making a bridge that could be lifted to allow (imaginary) boats to pass through.

The three-girl team from Marlborough comprising Jess Broekman, Louise Bateman and Tiffany Duran won the advanced section prize with another three-girl team from St Albans High School - Holly Maughan, Sophie Nield and Alina Bagnall - winning the intermediate section.

A quartet of boys from Sandringham School - Oscar Holmes, Lewis Covey- Crump, Aiswarya Pillai and Ben Smith - won the foundation level of the competition.

Certificates were presented by Stephen Potter, President of The Rotary Club of St Albans Verulamium.