Double Olympic Champion Dame Kelly Holmes today unveiled the six girls she has selected to take to Melbourne for the next event of the Norwich Union funded ‘On Camp with Kelly’ initiative, where they will experience the Commonwealth Games first hand and continue their mentoring from Holmes who is aiming to prepare them for life as future international senior athletes.

The girls are:
Dani Christmas, 17 from Horley, Surrey
One of the original ‘On Camp with Kelly’ girls, Dani won the 800m at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo, Australia (Dec 2004) and also the Under 20 Great North Mile in September 2005. In 2004 she won the English Schools 1500m title at Gateshead and also represented Great Britain in the U20 International, winning the 1500m in 4:24.51

Jo Finch, 17 from Newton Mearns, Glasgow
Has been a regular on all ‘On Camp with Kelly’ initiatives after having won the middle distance double at the 2004 Scottish Schools Championships. Jo recently came 5th in AAA U20 800m and hopes to study at Loughborough University. Named as the Daily Record ‘Scottish Young Athlete of the Year’ in January.

Hannah Brooks, 17 from Caterham, Surrey
Hannah won the 2005 English Schools Senior Girls 800m title and took Bronze in the AAA U20 800m.

Hannah England, 18 from Oxford
Hannah recently won the middle distance double at the UK Womens’ Athletics League Qualifier in September. She won the AAA U20 Championships Indoors and took Silver in the English Schools Senior Girls 1500m.

Emily Goodall, 16 from Haywards Heath, West Sussex
In 2005 Emily won the English Schools Inter Girls 800m as well as the Norwich Union AAAs U17 800m Indoor and outdoor titles.

Nicola Maddick, 18 from Kingston-upon-Hull
Nicola was second to fellow ‘On Camp with Kelly’ girl Hannah Brooks in the English Schools Senior Girls 800m, and finished third this year’s Under 20 Great North Mile.

The girls are due to leave the UK on 15 March. In Melbourne the girls will continue their athletic development and learn to deal with such things as getting into a training routine whilst coping with jet lag, as well as experience first hand a major sporting championship. By doing so, they will be able to see how the Australian passion for sport differs from the British.

Commenting on the trip, Kelly Holmes said: “Experiencing a major championships such as the Commonwealth Games will be invaluable for the girls. They will be able to see how easy it is for competitors to get distracted by all the excitement and events going on. Hosting a warm weather training camp here will allow them to experience the effects of jet lag on training performance amongst other things, as well as focus their minds away from the distractions at home. These girls have already come a long way and I’m looking forward to working with them even more over the next couple of weeks.”

One of the girls, Dani Christmas, said: “Working with Kelly over the past eighteen months has been incredible and has helped me enormously. I have very fond memories of Australia having won the 1500m at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo after I returned from the first ‘On Camp with Kelly’ in South Africa and I’m looking forward to returning to experience the senior championships.”


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