Sian Sprints to National Street Success

Monday, 16 November 2009

Former Bolton School girl Sian Pledger is getting closer to her dream of International representation in athletics as she starred in the national final of the street athletics sprint event, narrowly missing out on first place in a photo finish.

The event was part of the Street Athletics project, an initiative set up by Olympic sprint gold and silver medallists Linford Christie and Darren Campbell to encourage more young people to get involved in athletics. It involves a series of 60m races in the streets of towns around the country, where youngsters race against each other to gain a place in a regional, then the national final. The final was held in Albert Square in Manchester, on a track borrowed from Birmingham's National Indoor Arena which was rolled out in the square.

18 year old Bolton Harrier Sian won the Manchester regional event on Friday to qualify, and ran an extremely close race in the final to gain second place with a time of 8.41 seconds, behind Monica Bramwell of Luton. As one of the first two in her age group, Sian's prize was a year's supply of kit from sponsors Nike, mentoring from Christie and Campbell, and a trip to Crystal Palace to see the British Grand Prix Athletics in Summer 2010.

Sian usually competes in long jump as well as sprints. She is currently in Malta training in 100m and long jump with an International coach, and has high hopes for next season.

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Sian sprints to the finish!

Sian sprints to the finish!

Sian

Sian (4th right) with Linford Christie, Darren Campbell and the other winners