Students are aiming to be a cut above

6:07pm Tuesday 5th February 2008

KING Arthur, He-Man and Zorro are all famous for wielding swords - but a group of sports students from South East Essex College got their hands on their very own sword, all be it temporarily, to help promote the British Colleges Sport National Championships this week.

The impressive four-foot long Wilkinson Sword is the trophy given to the winning region after the event.

More than 20 sports students from the Southend-based college have qualified from this year's Eastern Regional Championship to be selected to represent the East of England in the hotly contested nationals.

Those students will be competing in volleyball, cross-country, golf, trampolining and squash.

Two of those taking part in the finals this April are men's volleyball team member Tim Reynolds and men's golf team star Joseph Galbraith.

"We are all really looking forward to the experience," said Reynolds.

"It has been a lot of hard work getting there but all the dedication and training has really paid off."

Galbraith, who is from Hockley and is also the Essex under-18 golf captain this season added: "It will be a great opportunity to play against the best in the country in our age group and we all hope to do the eastern region and the college proud."

The students will now join others from across the eastern region from as far north as the College of West Anglia in Kings Lynn over to Luton towards the west of the region.

At the national tournaments, in Loughborough, the students no longer just represent their individual colleges, but they go forward as representatives of all the colleges under the banner of the East of England, competing against students from seven other regions including Wales, the south west and the north east.

EDITOR'S CHOICE