MID Devon Pony Club intermediate girls' tetrathlon team narrowly missed qualifying for the National Championships last weekend. The girls, Rosa Malseed, Lottie Trerise, Jess Mortimore and Lucy Almond finished the area qualifier in second place, behind their old rivals, the North Cornwall PC. Lucy and Jess shot well, but the rest of the shooting did not go according to plan and the girls spent the rest of the weekend playing 'catch up'. This inspired them to some great swimming with both Lottie and Rosa producing PBs in the pool, Lottie swimming beautifully to have the best swim in the class.  Lucy's good swim and shoot meant she was in second place in the area at the end of Saturday's competition. First up on Sunday was the cross country phase around the challenging course at Chyverton. The girls all rode brilliantly with Rosa and Jess both going clear and Lottie taking just one 'L' fence. Lucy surprised herself and her team-mates, persuading her horse, Maurice, to complete the course with just one stop, having sensibly taken a number of L fences on the way. So, by Sunday afternoon, with just the running phase left, North Cornwall were still narrowly in the lead and although the Mid Devon girls ran their hearts out around the twisty course, they could not quite make up the points they needed. Jess had run really well as she was competing for the first time since injuring her knee and she and Rosa finished in equal sixth place individually, with Lottie just one place behind them.