Athlete Hannah Brooks from Caterham and two other members of Crawley Athletic Club, Charlotte Best from Redhill and Danielle Christmas from Horley trained with their mentor Dame Kelly Holmes this month at an ‘On Camp with Kelly’ training camp in her home town of Tonbridge in Kent. ‘On Camp with Kelly’, supported by Aviva since 2004, is the double Olympic champion’s successful mentoring and education initiative for talented young middle distance athletes.

The camp was an opportunity for 15 ‘On Camp with Kelly’ athletes to spend time with Dame Kelly and each other and carry out some quality training at the excellent facilities at Tonbridge School. They took part in a variety of different training sessions including runs, track sessions, drills, aqua-jogging and core stability under the guidance of Kelly.

The athletes also ran the first ever ‘On Camp with Kelly’ training session for young athletes while in Tonbridge. They were tasked with devising and leading the session under the guidance of Kelly and OCWK coaches which was attended by 65 athletes aged 11-17 from the local area. The youngsters took part in a warm up and drills session, following by training on the track and an 800m race for the younger athletes and training on the grass sports pitches for the older athletes. They were then divided into seven teams for a fun relay before warming down and stretching to end the session.

Dame Kelly said: “I am very pleased to invite some of the ‘On Camp with Kelly’ athletes to train in my home town and that they are able to assist local young athletes. I believe it is very important that the athletes I mentor give something back to the sport and pass on their knowledge to the next generation of athletes as I have done with them.”

Hannah Brooks from Caterham said: “It was great to see the young athletes feeling so inspired after participating in the training session. It gave me the opportunity to practice my own leadership and coaching skills, so it wasn't only the children benefited from the afternoon!” Hannah received an ‘On Camp with Kelly’ Excellent Achievement Award in 2007 in recognition of her participation in the European Athletics Junior Championships. She has taken part in a number of On Camp with Kelly races and was part of the 4x800m team that set a UK Junior record at the Adidas St Mary’s Relays in 2006.