A STUDENT at Queen Elizabeth's Community College has achieved notable success in an equestrian event.

Katie English, who has just taken her GCSEs and is returning to the sixth form in September to take her A levels, has excelled at the tetrathlon.

At the Area 15 Tetrathlon qualifier held at Pontispool Equestrian Centre and Taunton School the sole representative for Tiverton Pony Club, Katie successfully qualified as the runner-up Individual at Intermediate Level.

After a good start with shooting and swimming on the Saturday she completed the Cross Country course on her horse Lola, before the rain started just in time for the 1500m run.

Tetrathlon is a four phase competition. It includes shooting at a target with an air pistol, swimming for three minutes (the distance is marked and converted to points), a 1500m cross country run (which is timed and converted into points) and, finally, a tough cross country course to be ridden inside a given time.

The riding phase also involves a slip rail, where the competitor must dismount and negotiate the obstacle and a gate.

The first day of the competition was held at Taunton school and included the shoot and the swim. Katie managed a personal best shoot at this level with a score of 760.

Despite not feeling at her best, Katie carried on to complete the three minute swim with a strong score of 963 points.

The second day was held at Pontispool Equestrian Centre and involved the cross country ride and running.

Katie completed the testing course in a good time to leave her in a good position for the run.

As her run started the heavens opened which made the terrain tricky but despite this Katie completed the difficult course well and improved her time on her last outing by more than 30 seconds.

Katie only began competing in triathlons last year at junior level and has moved onto intermediate tetrathlons this year.

Katie and Lola will now travel to Hartbury College in Gloucestershire to represent Tiverton Pony Club against competitors from other parts of the country in the Pony Club Tetrathlon Championships.

Although she is the only Tiverton Pony Club competitor this year Katie will be getting lots of support from her trainers Paul and Mo Furneaux and other friends from Tiverton Pony Club, who will also travel up to the college.