THREE boys from St John’s School in Trowbridge were the fastest in the country as they won the Bath Regional Qualifier for the British Schools Biathlon Championships.

Ten-year-old Harry Dixon and nine-year-old twins John and Robert Howorth gained a combined score of 8376 points, beating teams from 36 other schools at the University of Bath Sports Village.

All three podium places were claimed by the St John’s trio, setting the highest points total for a Year Five team from all of the 12 regional qualifying tournaments.

The biathlon was made up of a 50 metre swim completed in the morning and a 500 metre run in the afternoon.

The young team all train with Team Bath Athletics Club and have qualified for the national finals, held at the Crystal Palace Sports Stadium on March 21.

“This is probably above any sporting success that the school has achieved before,” said Linda Ladner, St John’s PE co-ordinator.

“I knew that they trained with Team Bath and that they would run well but you don’t know anything about the competition and how they would end up doing as it was the first time we’d entered anything outside of school-organised events.

“It makes me proud to work at this school and it also reflects well on Trowbridge. It’s an outstanding achievement and I’m very, very proud of them.”

Harry finished joint-top of the Year Five age group with 2864 points while John finished third with 2816 points, recording the fastest run with a time of just over one minute and 30 seconds along the way.

Robert came in joint 12th and picked up 2696 points.

“They’ll be travelling to the nationals representing St John’s,” said teacher Ladner.

“It’ll be an even tougher event but after how well they’ve already done; they should have a very good chance.”