The Honiton Invita­tional may be one of the most highly-attended events of the year, but that didn't deter gymnasts from Ivybridge Community College, who returned with an array of medals including one partnership that claimed gold.

The competition – which saw 325 gymnasts competing from clubs from as far afield as Tyne and Wear, north Wales, London and Bristol – included 27 gymnasts from Ivy­bridge, with seven of them bringing back medals.

Year 8 Megan Wood and Year 4 Georgina Hayman (a pupil at Manor Primary School) took gold in 7+ Prep­aration Level pairs and groups – a huge competition that saw 24 partnerships competing against each other for honours.

Their score of 27.67 out of 30 was almost a full mark ahead of their nearest rivals and the second highest score of the whole competition.

Also celebrating a medal-winning performance was Year 11 Terrell Lawrence and Year 10 Dani Vosper, who claimed silver in grade four mixed pairs.

Year 9 student Evey Gordon and Year 5 Jesse Stevens (Manor Primary School) scored 26.41 to take bronze in the grade three wom­en's pairs competition, which had 27 partnerships competing for honours.

Year 10 student Molly Thompson collected a bronze medal in the grade four women's pairs competition with her nine-year-old partner Scar­lett Livingstone, who she trains with at Hon­iton Gymnastics Club. They scored 26.68.

'The Honiton Invita­tional is an excellent beginner-to-intermediate competition that celebrates both participation and competition,' said Helen Red­dy, Head of Performing Arts at Ivybridge Com­munity College, who is also in charge of the Gym­nastics Academy.

'It provides the perfect opportunity for our less practised gymnasts and those in the Primary Gym Academy to experience their first competitions, but also gives our more competent gymnasts the chance to compete against more formidable gymnasts from across the UK.

'I'm immensely proud of all the gymnasts that took part.

'They all performed well, grew in confidence and got the chance to develop their performance skills in front of a large crowd.'

In all, 11 pair and group partnerships from Ivybridge Com­munity College took part in the competition.