Under 17 sprinter, Samantha Griffiths, a student at John Kyrle High School, has become the Under 17 Women's Indoor South West Champion.
Samantha opened her 2010 athletics season at the Indoor Midland and South West Championships at Birmingham's NIA on February 13th and 14th with a confident medal haul of two golds and a bronze. Samantha claimed the sprint double in the 60m and 200m to become Champion.
The weekend brought two new personal best times of 8.12 seconds in the 60m, which secured the bronze Midland Counties medal in what was a very closely run Final and 26.9 seconds in the 200m.
2009 was a tough year for Samantha, with her coach, Margaret Davies, falling seriously ill in April and passing away in December. Samantha continues to train three times a week at Cheltenham Harriers and, thanks to her new coach, two times Commonwealth Heptathlete, Kerry Eddie, she has made a positive start to the year and is looking forward to the outdoor season.
The support she has received from her Head of Year, Chris Elias, Headmaster, Nigel Griffiths and GCSE PE teacher, Claire Godwin, has helped her through this difficult time. Samantha is hoping to repay their support with some more good results this season.