PETER Horne and Peter Thornton have been recognised for their sporting achievements at St Osmund’s Middle School with a special award sponsored by Sportsgear.

Martyn Bagwell, head of PE at the Dorchester school explains: “We wanted to recognise the outstanding contribution that two students in particular have made to sport at St Osmund’s.

“When I talked to Simon Dabbs, the owner of Sportsgear, he was very keen to support the award which is extremely generous, especially in this economic climate.

“The two students singled out for recognition are Peter Horne and Peter Thornton, both currently in Year 8.

“The two of them have always put in an excellent performance in their sports right from Year 5 and their list of achievements throughout the years is quite remarkable.

“Between them they have represented the school at virtually every sport to a consistently high standard including football, rugby, hockey, badminton, table tennis, cricket, biathlon, running, high jump and swimming.

“They’ve both won national medals for the school in biathlon, have swum at National level for St Osmund’s and have smashed county records in athletics at high jump and running.

“The two Peters are very much team players though and I think they’ll tell you their proudest moment was when they were part of the relay team at the Bazuka National Schools Swimming Championships where they came sixth in the country.

“I’d like to acknowledge the expertise of their coaches at West Dorset Swimming Club, Dorchester Athletics Club and Dorset Pentathletes who have helped train the two Peters throughout their sporting careers.”

Simon Dabbs added: “It’s a pleasure to support St Osmund’s with this award. It’s wonderful to see these two youngsters recognised for their hard work and training and also for the fine example they set others.

“It’s been nice to see them as they’ve come into my shop for their running spikes and other equipment over the years – I’ve seen their progress and it’s good to be part of encouraging youngsters to do more sport.”

Horne and Thornton will each receive a £20 token to spend at Sportsgear, which has branches in Westham Road, Weymouth and South Street, Dorchester.