Lauren shines in middle distance running

This season Lauren Bell showed her ability to maintain her amazing progress in the tough world of middle-distance athletics by building on her achievements of previous years – a proud fact which was recognized at the recent Sport Pembrokeshire Awards in Folly farm when she won the under 16 girls’ award.
She is really catching the eye in the 800 and 1500 metres despite being only in Year Nine at Ysgol Bro Gwaun, Fishguard, and what makes her achievement even more impressive is that she can compete at this age group for another year.
This season started well when Lauren gained second place in the Welsh Schools Cross Country Championships at Brecon on March 8th, giving her automatic selection to the Welsh Schools Cross Country team to compete in Perth, Scotland later in the month.
The following week saw Lauren compete in the UK Cross Country Challenge Championships held in Nottingham and this proved to be very exciting as Lauren gained fourth place, but due to Sky Sports coverage the family and friends watching at home were engrossed because Lauren led for almost three quarters of the race before being caught close to the finish.

Second Welsh vest

At the end of March Lauren travelled to Perth in Scotland where she gained her second Welsh vest at the Schools International meeting and although she wasn't feeling her best she showed great determination to finish the race in 32nd place.
April was again another busy month as it saw Lauren again representing Wales at the London Mini Marathon, where over an extended course she gained a creditable 23rd overall in a time of 18 minutes 35 seconds for the 3 mile course. Then she had her first outdoor track meeting of the year where she set a new Louise Arthur League under 15's record for 800 metres of 2 minutes 15.7 seconds at Carmarthen.

Shattering times

On May Bank Holiday, Lauren travelled to Millfield School, where she ran in the British Milers Club Women's 800 metre 'A' race. Open to all age groups and aided by a male pacemaker over the first 500 metres, these races are aimed to help athletes break their personal best times. Lauren ran a fantastic 2 minutes 13.47 seconds, shattering her personal best and also promoting her to the fastest 13 year old girl over 800 metres in the UK – and this fine achievement still stood at the time of the recent awards celebration
Also in May, Lauren became West Wales Champion in both the 300 metres and 800 metres and a month later she travelled to Carmarthen for the Dyfed Schools Championships to compete in the 200 metre and 800 metre events. She gained victory in both events and received the Frank Davies Memorial Cup for the Best Female Athlete of the Day as she broke the record in the 800 metres and knocking over five seconds off the old time.

More success

Her success story continued as Lauren won the Welsh under 15's 1500 metre title at Swansea in one of the best races of her year. Running against Hywelis Thomas-Howells, the fastest girl at 1500 metres in Wales, they produced an absolutely epic race as Hywelis dictated the pace from the start with Lauren sitting in behind. With 50 metres to go Lauren pulled out up the final straight and they battled it out to the line with Lauren winning in a time of 4 minutes 37.39 seconds, which is still ranked as the 2nd fastest time by a 13 year old girl in the UK this year.

Busy times

June was equally busy since Lauren won the Welsh under 15's 800 metre title at Carmarthen - making it a magnificent double followed by success in the Welsh Schools 800 metres Championships at Brecon in appalling conditions. Her time of 2 minutes 21.8 seconds was the fastest time run by any female age group on the day and as a result she was awarded the Kirsty Wade Cup for the best middle distance performance, and also with selection for the Welsh Schools team to compete at Bedford.
Lauren’s third Welsh vest came during the schools under 18's international at Bedford and Lauren used this race as an opportunity to compete against the very best at 800 metres in the UK. She was the youngest in the race by over three years and she really learnt a lot about competitive racing and although she finished eighth she was happy with her performance.

Fantastic first place

Selection for the Celtic Games in Grangemouth enabled Lauren to run in the Under 16's 800 metres, gaining a fantastic first place, giving her a second victory in a Welsh vest.
Not content with that little lot, she then travelled to the UK under 15's (AAA's Championships) at Birmingham and Lauren won her heat on Saturday to return on Sunday for the final. Although slightly disappointed with her fifth place in the final, she realised this race was another part of her athletics education.
 On 23rd August, in one of Lauren's final races, and although tired at the end of a long outdoor and cross country season, she ran another good race, narrowly missing the record. She was delighted to be presented with a boxed silver plate for Best Female Athlete of the Match - a great way to finish a busy season.

International debut

In previous seasons she produced an exceptional performance when making her debut for Welsh Schools in the Celtic under16 Schools International at the National Indoor Arena, taking part in the 800 metres race where the field consisted of two Irish, two Welsh and one Scottish athlete, and after jostling for a position early on in the race, Lauren took the lead with a lap to go and held on right to the line, winning in a time of 2 minutes 18.8 seconds - a new personal best.

Early start

Lauren told us about her start in athletics: “I represented the school in the Pembrokeshire Primary Schools Cross Country Competition and after winning the North Pembrokeshire race at Ysgol Preseli, I competed and won the Pembrokeshire Cross Country title at Oakwood. During this time I also won the Urdd Cross Country Championships at Aberystwyth.
It was then that I noticed there was a Mayor's Race being held in Carmarthen on Easter Monday. The race was one mile through the streets of Carmarthen so I entered the race and came third and it was during the race that I noticed that the majority of the runners belonged to running clubs.
Lauren then joined the Pembrokeshire Harriers, which she says is a ‘great club’ and,
“I broke the Under 11's 1500 metres Louise Arthur record in my first season and
won the 800 metres Under 13's Welsh Championship title in 2006. This was followed by silver in the Welsh Under 13's Welsh Cross Country Championships and a team gold at Ruthin in 2007. In 2007 I also ran the Mini London Marathon, which covers the last 2.6 miles of the main race, and it was a brilliant experience with such a big crowd lining the pavements.
“Then I won Gold in the 800 metres at the Welsh Indoor under 15's Championships held at UWIC in January 2008, followed a month later when I won Gold when representing Welsh Schools at the Celtic Schools Indoor International in the Under 16's 800 metres, beating my personal best and running 2 minutes 18.8 seconds.”

Proud moments and disappointment too

Ask Lauren about her proudest moments and she would say she has now represented Pembrokeshire, West Wales, Dyfed Schools and Welsh Schools but putting on her Welsh Schools’ vest and winning on her Welsh debut was the very best, whilst the biggest disappointment was running the 800 metres in the Gerald Codd Meeting, when,
“I only had 50 metres to go and was well ahead of the girl in second place but I made the mistake of looking over the wrong shoulder and did not notice Lora Roberts coming up behind me so I slowed down coming to the line, thinking I had won. But Lora, who is a Bridgend athlete, came past me and took first place. I vowed never to make that mistake again!”

Future ambitions

Ask Laura about future ambitions and she would say she just wants to win some more Welsh titles and break some records and to represent Wales in the Commonwealth Games in 2014 would be a dream. Her favourite athlete is Paula Radcliffe, as she always shows such determination and commitment and would unhesitatingly nominate Peter Freeman as a major supporter of her in the Pembrokeshire Harriers.
She now attends regular training sessions at UWIC in Cardiff as a part of the Welsh Athletics Development squad and recently received a letter further to her training, selecting her for the Welsh Talent Development Academy. She will attend the first WDTA weekend in Cardiff with Peter Freeman on the sixth and seventh of December.
For further thanks there’s dad Andrew for his training schedules which always involves something to make them laugh, her mother Debbie, who gives up all her spare time to take Lauren to training and look after her kit, her sister Kirsty, who goes to watch if she's not playing golf and the rest of her family who are supporting every step of her career. She would also like to thank Ian Manning PLC for their kind sponsorship and encouragement.