Two teenage athletes from Bradford Grammar School are celebrating after becoming world mountain running champions.
Rebecca Flaherty and Amelie Lane, competed in the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships (WMTRC) at the weekend where they clinched team gold in the Under 20 Women’s up and downhill race in Innsbruck, Austria.
Rebecca, 17, who recently represented Team GB in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Australia, was overjoyed to take gold in the WMTRC, while Amelie finished fourth, with both leading their teammates to victory for the overall title.
Rebecca said: “It was an amazing race. I had a race plan where I knew I was going to go hard up the hills and then had to dig deep and push through the pain at the end. I knew what my strengths were and I had to have confidence in myself.”
Her resilience paid off and Rebecca’s team physio handed her a British flag as she sped over the line to victory, with hundreds cheering her on.
“The final 500m was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had,” she recalled. “It was incredible. To go through the line flying the flag was the cherry on top.
“There’s so much hard work and training which goes on behind the scenes, come rain or shine, it makes it all worthwhile. When you’re doing it with your team, it’s even better. They’ve all been really supportive.”
Amelie’s success arrived less than a fortnight after she won bronze individual and team medals in the International U18 Mountain Running Cup in France.
Both Rebecca and Amelie have a string of athletic accolades to their name and are following in the footsteps of BGS’s athletic alumni Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, Richard Nerurker and Emile Cairess.
Their success comes as Year 11 student Emily Gibbons has learned she has been selected to represent England in the European Youth Orienteering Championships in Bulgaria on June 22. She is also a reserve for the biggest international junior race this summer – the Junior World Orienteering Championships.
Dr Simon Hinchliffe, headmaster at BGS, said: “We could not be prouder of Rebecca, Amelie and Emily. They all work incredibly hard, balancing their academic studies with their athletic endeavours. I know the specialist sports staff here have played a key part in their development and it’s fantastic to see them achieve success as they pursue their sporting goals.”