Southend Sport

Dame Kelly’s gift to speedy Clutterbuck

11:40am Tuesday 25th May 2010

BASILDON AC’s Dale Clutterbuck and Canvey schoolgirl Jessica Judd enjoyed dream masterclasses with double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes as part of their preparations for this year’s Aviva English Schools Track and Field Championships.

Clutterbuck (18) and 15-year-old Castle View student Judd were among 54 rising athletics stars invited to attend a day of mentoring, education and specialised training with Dame Kelly, having been selected following his bronze-medal winning display in the 1,500 metres at last year’s English Schools Championships.

And Seevic College pupil Clutterbuck admitted the once in a lifetime opportunity at Loughborough College had increased his determination to one day follow in Dame Kelly’s shoes and win Olympic gold.

“Hopefully I’ll get to run in the 1,500 in London in 2012,” said Clutterbuck, who was joined by his coach Steve Reynolds in Loughborough.

“It would be great to compete just for the experience, and then I can focus on winning a medal at the 2016 games in Rio. I loved the event in Loughborough – it was excellent. It’s the last year I can compete in the English Schools, so I’ll be doing my very best to win it.”

Said Judd: ““Kelly was so nice to me - I don’t have a lot of upper body strength so I felt like I was struggling a little bit with some of the circuits we were doing but Kelly said I did really well.”

Judd, who was joined by her coach Jeremy Freeman and dad Mike in Loughborough, added: “I’m looking forward to the English Schools Championships later in the year. I’ll be running the 1,500 against girls in the school year above me, so I’ll be very happy just to get to the final.“One day I’d love to represent Great Britain. It’s my big dream and it would be such a great honour.”

The day was an extension of Aviva’s support of the Home Countries Schools Championships, with Clutterbuck, Judd and co also enjoying specialist educational workshops on fitness and lifestyle.

And Dame Kelly, who was joined by ‘On Camp with Kelly’ star Andrew Osagie, believes the duo will reap the rewards of the unique experience as their athletics careers continue.

“Dale and Jessica definitely have a bright future in athletics and hopefully this mentoring day will help them,” she said.

Dame Kelly won gold in both the 800 and 1,500 metres at the Athens Olympics in 2004.“The London Olympics is only two years away now and that should really inspire all young athletes in Great Britain,” she added.

“Although 2012 will probably come a bit too soon for most of the athletes on this mentoring day, there is 2016 and beyond...

“I had to wait until I was 34 before I won in Athens so these athletes have a long career ahead of them. I want to make sure they have the best start.”

The Aviva Home Countries Schools Championships form part of the Aviva UKA Academy, giving every child in the UK the chance to get involved in athletics by 2012. See the website: aviva.co.uk/athletics.

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