On Friday 8th July, nearly 150 primary school children from 6 schools across North Devon took part in the North Devon Aquathlon, held at Ilfracombe Swimming Pool.
At the event, the children first had to swim a set distance in the pool depending on their year group (Year 3 – 50m; Year 4 – 100m; Year 5 – 150m and Year 6 – 200m) before running up and around Hillsborough (one lap for Years 3 and 4, and two laps for Years 5 and 6). The children in each race were split into two different ‘waves’ so, rather than just competing against the children in their own race, each child had to compete against the clock by swimming and running as fast as they could!

The Southmead values being displayed by every single one of our competitors were a privilege to witness as they each displayed incredible determination and resilience to complete their respective distances resulting in fantastic performances with both individual and team successes.
In her very first aquathlon, Missi was delighted to achieve 2nd place in the Year 3 girls’ category. Arno also won a medal by taking 3rd place out of a very competitive field of Year 4 boys.

The last time the event was run, three years ago, the Year 3 girls were particularly successful, enjoying both individual and team success. Now competing as Year 6, in their final sporting event at Southmead, they showed that they had clearly not lost that winning formula!
Amber achieved 1st place, Annie 2nd place and Lani 3rd, leading the whole Year 6 team to overall  Gold!

A huge thank you needs to go to Dr Corney and Mrs Matthews, who were busy organising, encouraging and looking the children on the field, as well as the fabulous parents who helped look after each year group - in particular, Mrs Bradford, Mr Smithson, Mrs Smith and Mrs Jones.
Every single child was an outstanding ambassador of Southmead and should be very proud of themselves! Well done everybody and what a fantastic day!