BETHAN Wakefield, a Backwell School pupil and member of Newport Harriers AC, went to the National Indoor Athletics Centre at UWIC recently for the championships, having moved up an age group to Under-17 women.

BETHAN Wakefield, a Backwell School pupil and member of Newport Harriers AC, went to the National Indoor Athletics Centre at UWIC recently for the championships, having moved up an age group to Under-17 women.

However, Bethan was thrilled when in the long jump she finished in bronze medal position with a jump of 4.99m, a brilliant start to the day giving her a much needed confidence boost. At the beginning of the day, Bethan had said she would be really pleased to just qualify for the finals of the 200m and 60m. Not only did she do that, she went on to achieve a hard fought silver medal finish in the 60m (8.06sec), but the highlight of her day was a gold medal in probably her weakest event the 200m (26.63sec).

The 200m gold really showed Bethan's character and determination as in the difficult outside lane, she was chased down by the athletes in lanes two and three and coming off the final bend was in third. However, Bethan dug deep and pushed for the finish retaking her position at the front.

Another highlight was receiving her silver medal from Olympic gold medalist Jamie Baulch, who started his athletics career at Newport Harriers.

Bethan was extremely thrilled with her three medals, one of each colour, from three events and will give her something to build on as she faces her first outdoor season in the new age group.

The weekend's achievements were then topped off when on the Monday she received a letter from Bath University informing her that she had been selected for the South West Talent Centre Performance Development Scholarship.