A PARALYMPIAN put pupils at North Tawton Community School through their paces on a visit to the school recently.

David Hill, who took part as a para-triathlete in the 2016 Rio Paralympics, led a high-energy four-minute exercise session with the children.

Afterwards, he told them all about his adventures in sport which started when he took part as a cyclist in the Paralympic Games at the age of just 15 in Athens in 2004.

His visit to the school on Friday, May 18 was part of his work promoting fitness in schools through the charity Sports for Schools. The children were being sponsored to take part by family and friends, raising money to buy PE equipment for the school.

David, who lives in Exmouth in east Devon, told the children how he had not let his disability stand in his way. He was born with his left arm missing below the elbow but has gone onto have a lengthy career in sport.

‘The whole school took part in the fitness circuit, led by myself and Dan Jones from Sports for Schools, and at the end of that I did a whole school assembly, sharing how I got in to sport,’ he said.

‘They all got stuck in and tried their best, which is what Dan and I were aiming for.’

• Team GB Paralympian David Hill is pictured putting North Tawton children through their paces. Picture by James Bird.