Sidmouth Surf Life Saving Club’s competitive squad took on Britain’s best and brightest in Exmouth.

Sidmouth Herald: Sidmouth Surf Lifesaving Club at the British championships at Exmouth - the 12 years boys teamSidmouth Surf Lifesaving Club at the British championships at Exmouth - the 12 years boys team (Image: Archant)

Competing in the youth championships last month, an 18-strong team competed strongly against other clubs, gaining three podium places.

The top performer was Louis Spalding, who won silver in the beach sprint and bronze in the beach flags event.

Sidmouth’s nipper team competed in their event, against nearly 1,000 other competitors from clubs from around the country. They came away with four British titles.

Leading the way were the boys’ 12-years age group competitors, with George Manley retaining his British board race title for the third year in a row.

Sidmouth Herald: Sidmouth Surf Lifesaving Club at the British championships at Exmouth - the 12 years boys teamSidmouth Surf Lifesaving Club at the British championships at Exmouth - the 12 years boys team (Image: Archant)

The team also won with board rescue and board relay race.

Kate Marriott in her first British championship scooped a gold in the beach sprint and a silver in the one-kilometre beach run.

Overall the team placed 11th – five places higher than in 2015.

Nipper team manager Dave Manley said: “It was another great championship by our youth and nippers teams.

“While it’s always nice to come back with medals, it is particularly satisfying to see our improvement in the team standings – which all our competitors scored points to achieve.”