STUDENTS at Richard Lander School took part in a fundraising event last week which saw them meet and observe a Great British athlete at first hand.

The athlete in question was international triple jumper Julian Golley, who has a personal best of 17.26 metres at his event.

His visit followed on that of GB high jumper Ben Challenger last year.

Students in year 7, 8 and 9 took part in the day and really enjoyed this rare opportunity to meet someone who has made it to the top level of sports performance.

The school's PE team leader Neil Stoddard said: "Julian communicated really well with the students and gave them a real insight into the dedication it takes to make it to the top.

"His demonstrations were amazing with him jumping more than 14 metres and doing some jumps over the top of crouching students."

This event was organised by 'Superschools' which is an organisation which helps to fund up and coming athletes.

The aim of the event was not only to allow students to meet and observe a top athlete but also to raise valuable funds for the school.

In order to raise money students were asked to obtain sponsorship to take part in the day.

"This was really well done by the majority of the children and we would like to thank all those people who sponsored our students," Mr Stoddard added.

"Last year's sponsorship money was used to purchase new rugby kit for our school teams and we hope to use this year's money to purchase more sports kit and equipment for our students to use."

In addition to meeting Julian, students took part in a number of fitness challenges where they competed against their peers in some of the gym tests shown on the sports TV programme Superstars.

This proved very popular, with the students showing a good understanding of the exercises and a determination to perform to the best of their ability.

Mr Stoddard said: "This was a great event which proved very popular with our students and with the fund raising which took place we are now able to purchase new resources for our students to use in the future.

"Thank you to all those who took part and those who made this event possible."