In the five and a half years that the Pentathlon and the Fencing Academy have been running, athletes from Plymouth College have won over 50 National titles, with 25 Silver and 30 Bronze medals across disciplines, which include fencing, biathle, biathlon, triathlon, tetrathlon, and pentathlon.
Twenty-one pupils have represented various countries, including England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Ireland, Great Britain, Jamaica, Singapore, Kenya and Hong Kong. In 2013, we had our first European Championship team medals in the pentathlon, when Kerenza Bryson brought home a Silver and a Bronze medal from Belarus. In 2014, she followed that up with a team Gold medal at the World Championships in Budapest. These world and European medals stand alongside her six individual and two team British Championship wins in multi-eventing. Further to this, we also have multiple pupils vying for qualification for the Youth Olympic Games, with Annabel Denton eventually going on to finish in 8th position in Buenos Aires in 2018. Plymouth College pupils have also gone on to achieve success at senior level with Myles Pillage taking gold in the men’s relay at the 2019 European Championships as well as the mixed relay gold medal with Kerenza Bryson at the same event.
On the fencing front, in recent years, our star performers have been Tia Simms-Lymn, who including the Public Schools Championships, has won nine National titles in Great Britain up to 2014 and now, representing Jamaica, competed in the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China. Ben Andrews, the current U20 and U23 British Champion in epee and Great Britain team member, has also started to break through on the international circuit alongside Abagael Black.
We have a full-time Director of Pentathlon and Fencing, Robert Flack, who has used his knowledge and experience as an elite pentathlete and now coach to kick-start the academy and bring it to where it is today: one of the leading centres in Britain for pentathlon and fencing.
Pupils who have represented their country in the World, European or in other world regions, include:
As well as experiencing success while at Plymouth College, many of these pupils have also gone on to win medals and represent their country on the international stage as senior-level athletes too. Not only does the Pentathlon and Fencing Academy attract top-quality athletes from around the world it also invests heavily in the development of pupils at the prep school ensuring that many of Britain’s most successful athletes have come through the Plymouth College pathway.
