Olympic athlete comes back to her roots

7:56pm Thursday 17th January 2008

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An Olympic athlete came back to her roots when she made a special visit to her former college in the city.

Helen Clitheroe, from Hutton, Preston, first ran for Great Britain in 1998 at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur met with students at Preston College.

The 33-year-old talked to the students about the gruelling aspects of being a professional athlete.

She spoke of her extensive training programme including a 14 mile run on a Sunday, an 11 mile run on a Monday and a five and a half mile run, together with nine miles of hill reps on a Tuesday.

Adam Lesbirel, 17, a student and Javelin athlete, said: "It was dead inspirational. She spoke to us about how she prepared herself mentally and physically for the Olympics.

"It has spurred me on to train harder and I want to follow in her footsteps and eventually compete in the Olympics."

Helen, who worked at West View Leisure Centre, competed in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, and the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan.

Dave Smith, curriculum manager for sport at the college, said: "The students got to grill Helen in a question and answer session where she talked about the importance of physical therapy, the feeling of competing in the Olympics."

Helen also gave advice to students about how to stay focussed when training or competing, the issue of drugs in sports, testing measures and funding issues.

Mr Smith added: "She was very motivating and she showed the importance of determination to achieve dreams by setting individual goals and targets."

Helen is currently training for the Steeple Chase in the Beijing Olympics later this year.