Nine athletes who are part of double Olympic Champion Dame Kelly Holmes’ ‘On Camp with Kelly’ mentoring programme, supported by Norwich Union, have been selected for this summer’s international age group championships.

Charlotte Best (800m), Laura Finucane (800m) and Hannah England (1500m) will compete at the European Athletics Under 23 Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, on 12-15 July. Laura and Charlotte are ranked fourth and sixth respectively and Hannah seventh in the European Under 23 season lists.

Emma Jackson (800m), Hannah Brooks (800m), Emma Pallant (1500m) and Jess Coulson (3000m) will compete in the European Athletics Junior Championships in Hengelo, The Netherlands, on 19-22 July. Emma Jackson is a clear leader of the European Under 20 rankings while Emma Pallant and Jess Coulson rank fifth for their events.

Alison Leonard has been selected to compete over 800m at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on 11-15 July and ranks third in the World Under 18 lists for the distance. Rachel Stringer will also compete over 800m at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Belgrade, Serbia, on 22-27 July.

Dame Kelly said: “I would like to congratulate all the athletes on their excellent performances to earn selection for the championships. I have no doubt that they will all perform to the best of their ability and benefit from a fantastic learning experience.”

Tanya Veingard, Head of Sponsorship & CSR at Norwich Union said: “I am delighted to see that so many of the ‘On Camp with Kelly’ athletes have earned selection to represent the Norwich Union GB Team and I am sure that they will do the country proud. As the team behind UK Athletics we’re proud to be able to offer support for all levels of athletics – from playground to podium – and ‘On Camp with Kelly’ is a fantastic programme for young girls who dream of winning gold.”

‘On Camp with Kelly’ is a unique mentoring scheme developed by Dame Kelly Holmes and funded by Norwich Union to provide support for young female middle distance athletes. Since its inception in 2004 around 40 girls have been involved in the initiative which includes educational activities, training camps, races, mentoring from Dame Kelly and financial and medical support.


Athlete Biographies

Charlotte Best

Age: 22
Club: Crawley AC
Home town: Loughborough
PB: 2:01.66

Charlotte has had an excellent start to the 2007 season, reducing her personal best, which dated from 2004, first to 2:03.11 when winning at the Loughborough International and then to 2:01.66 when winning at the BMC Nike Grand Prix in Manchester. She won the Under 23 800m at the recent Norwich Union England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships and European Trials having taken the bronze medal at the equivalent event in 2006 and 2005. She was British Universities 800m champion indoors in 2007 and outdoors in 2006. Charlotte has been involved in ‘On Camp with Kelly’ since it began in 2004 when she unfortunately had to miss the Educational Camp in South Africa due to illness.


Laura Finucane

Age: 20
Club: Pendle AC / Loughborough University
Home town: Colne, Lancs
PB: 2:01.35

Laura missed most of the 2006 season through injury, but improved her personal best to an excellent 2:01.35 in June this year. She then won the silver medal in the Under 23 800m at the recent Norwich Union England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships and European Trials. In 2005 she finished fifth in the 800m at the European Athletics Junior Championships, having also made the final at the IAAF World Junior Championships the previous year, and was a semi-finalist in the IAAF World Youth Championships in 2003. She also won the AAA Under 20 800m title in 2004 and 2005. Laura has been involved in ‘On Camp with Kelly’ since the first Educational Camp in South Africa in November 2004.


Hannah England

Age: 20
Club: Oxford City AC / Birmingham University
Home town: Oxford
PB: 4:12.44

After an excellent indoor season in which she set a new personal best of 4:17.70 to win the UK Indoor City Challenge Final and was British Universities Indoor champion, Hannah carried that good form into the outdoor season. She reduced her 1500m best to 4:12.33 at the BMC Nike Grand Prix on 9 June and has also improved her 800m best to 2:03.92 at the Loughborough International on 20 May. She won the Under 23 1500m at the Norwich Union England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships and European Trials and was a silver medallist over the same distance at the British Universities Athletics Championships. She was AAA Under 20 1500m champion in 2006 and competed at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing. In 2005 she won gold over 1500m at the AAA Indoor Under 20 Championships and silver in the senior 1500m at the English Schools. Hannah has been involved with ‘On Camp with Kelly’ since it began in 2004 and last year was one of six girls selected to attend the Educational Camp at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.


Hannah Brooks

Age: 19
Club: Crawley AC / Birmingham University
Home town: Caterham, Surrey
PB: 2:05.81

Hannah ran a new personal best and European Juniors qualifying time of 2:05.81 at the BMC Nike Grand Prix in Manchester on 9 June and then finished second in the England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships and European Trials to secure her place in the team for the championships. Last year she won the bronze medal in the senior 1500m at the English Schools having taken the gold over 800m in 2005. Hannah joined ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in 2005 and was one of six athletes who attended an Educational Camp at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March 2006.


Emma Jackson

Age: 19
Club: City of Stoke
Home town: Market Drayton
PB: 2:01.95

Emma has had an exceptional start to the 2007 season, improving her personal best three times and running an excellent 2:01.95 recently in Manchester, the quickest time by an Under 20 athlete in Europe this year. Last weekend she retained her national Under 20 title to secure her place in the Norwich Union GB Team for the European Athletics Junior Championships. Emma narrowly missed out on a place in the 800m final at last year’s IAAF World Junior Championships and finished fifth in the 800m final at the IAAF World Youth Championships in 2005. She was also English Schools Senior 800m Champion last year and earlier this year finished second in the 800m at the British Universities Championships. Emma joined ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in 2006.


Emma Pallant

Age: 18
Club: Aldershot Farnham & District
Home town: Farnham
PB: 4:13.38

Emma has had an excellent start to the 2007 outdoor season, first taking four seconds off her 1500m best with 4:17.8 and then reducing it by another four seconds to 4:13.38 when finishing second against senior athletes at the Loughborough International on 20 May. She has also taken two and a half seconds off her 800m best with 2:07.67. She was an easy winner of the Under 20 1500m at the Norwich Union England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships and European Trials after having taken bronze in the equivalent event in 2006. Last year she also won silver in the senior 1500m at the English Schools and she competed in the IAAF World Youth Championships in 2005. Emma joined ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in 2006.


Jessica Coulson

Age: 17
Club: Stockport Harriers
Home town: Stockport
PB: 9:20.44

Jess won both the AAA Under 17 1500m and the English Schools Inter 3000m titles in 2006. She followed that with an excellent cross country season, finishing 14th in the European Junior Cross Country in December and 26th in the World Junior Cross Country in early 2007. Her start to the 2007 track season has been no less impressive and she has already set new personal bests for 3000m of 9:20.44, for 1500m of 4:21.82 and for 800m of 2:08.8. She was an easy winner of the Under 20 3000m at the Norwich Union England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships and European Trials to secure her place in the team for the European Athletics Junior Championships. Jess joined ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in 2007.


Alison Leonard

Age: 17
Club: Blackburn Harriers
Home town: Chorley
PB: 2:04.86

Alison has had a great start to the 2007 season, taking over two seconds off her personal best, first running 2:05.56 at the Loughborough International on 20 May and then 2:04.86 at the BMC Nike Grand Prix in Manchester on 9 June. She won the bronze medal in the Under 20 800m at the recent Norwich Union England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships and European Trials. Alison had a successful year in 2006, winning both the AAA Under 17 800m title and the English Schools Inter 800m title. She also won a bronze medal over the same distance at the AAA Under 20 Championships. Alison joined ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in 2007.


Rachel Stringer

Age: 17
Club: City of Norwich
Home town: Norwich
PB: 2:08.46

Rachel has set three personal bests for 800m so far this season with her latest improvement to 2:08.46 coming when she finished fifth in the Under 20 800m at the Norwich Union England Athletics U23 & U20 Championships. She finished fourth at both the AAA Under 17 Championships and the English Schools (Inters) in 2006 before going on to win over the same distance at the inaugural UK School Games. Rachel joined ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in 2007.


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