An aspiring teenage runner is on the fast track to becoming one of Britain's top athletes thanks to mentoring by Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes.

Alison Leonard,19 from Clayton-le-Woods was picked to take part in the On Camp with Kelly mentoring initiative in 2007.

Since then she has won the 800m silver medal at the World Youth Championships in 2007 and came fourth in the World Junior Championships last year.

The former Runshaw College student says being part of the scheme has greatly improved her confidence.

She said: "I've been able to benefit from Kelly's experience and get advice and support.

"It's good knowing what to expect of a situation before you even get into it, like international races, which not many people can help you with."

Alison achieved her personal best last year finishing the 800m race in 2:02 minutes at the BMS Nike Grand Prix to go second on the world junior rankings.

She is studying biology at Birmingham University and her personal best for the 1500m is 4.22 minutes.

The scheme is supported by Aviva, and was set up by the double Olympic gold medalist to mentor talented young female runners to learn what it takes to become a world class athlete.

More than half of female athletes selected for the mentoring initiative have improved their average time in their first season with a further 60 percent attaining a new personal best.

Dame Kelly said she was happy the scheme is having a positive impact.

She said: "The improvement in the athletes' performances since joining the scheme is very pleasing and a great reward for all the hard work that they and their coaches have put in.

"I aim to pass on as much of my experience as I can and am really pleased that the athletes are recording such impressive times as well as developing as people."