Lucy Wintle is one of the talented new batch of young athletes at the Pembrokeshire Harriers and at 11 years of age she has already enjoyed success but, more importantly, absolutely loves the camaraderie at the club and the sheer joy of running.
 
For Lucy is a very good all-round athlete who has started to catch attention in multi events competitions that include competing in the 70 metres hurdles, long jump, shot and 800 metres as proof of her all-round skills, alongside the ability to run well in cross-country.
 
Indeed, it was this facet of athletics which initially brought Lucy to the attention of The Harriers when she competed for Hafan y Mor Primary School (Tenby) in the Pembrokeshire Junior Schools Cross Country Championships at Oakwood and did really well in her three years of involvement.
 

Dyfed Championships success

 
Then it was on to the Dyfed Junior Schools' Championships at Carmarthen Showground, where Lucy took on the best of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, ending up in first place in Years three, four and five, as well as finishing second in year six.
 
Whilst in year five Lucy was also chosen, as Dyfed champion in her year, to compete against West Glamorgan and finished a hugely creditable seventh of the 20 runners as her elder sister Ella led everyone home.
 
Not content with that form, Lucy excelled a year later in the same competition against West Glamorgan, this time at Margam Park, which was used as a curtain-raiser for the International Schools' Cross Country involving Wales, England, Scotland and Ireland.
 

Made welcome by Pembrokeshire Harriers

 
On the track front, Lucy had also watched Ella train with the Pembrokeshire Harriers and it was a natural progression after the initial Oakwood success that she would also receive an invitation from Peter Freeman to join them.
 
She was too young to race for the first six months but really enjoyed the training before making her debut on the track at Sir Thomas Picton School in the Gerald Codd Memorial Competition against other teams from all across the M4 corridor.
 
At first Lucy enjoyed the 800 metres under the watchful eye of Mr Freeman, who told us,
"Lucy is a pleasure to have in the club because she is always eager to learn and takes on board all we say, soaking advice up like a sponge and reflecting her eagerness in her performances."
High praise indeed from a very knowledgeable coach!
 
Then Lucy took an interest in a range of other events and it was a natural conclusion to try her hand at the combined events competition as she did so.
 

Great 2017 season

 
Her results this 2017 season have been excellent when one considers she is competing against very good athletes, including Ella, who are a year older but it hasn't limited her determination to keep working hard.
 
Lucy has also competed in the same relay team as her older sister, however, and in July they were joined in a Pembrokeshire Harriers 4 x 100 metres relay team by other talented sprinters in Megan Cole and Maisy Foley.
 
They have worked really well together, especially on technical details like baton changes, and this has been reflected by their personal best time of 56.35 seconds, achieved in Swansea, which was only two hundredths of a second short of the club record.
 

Competing well against older athletes

 
Then it was on to the Welsh Under 13s Cup Final at Newport and they returned home with a highly creditable third place, especially since both Lucy and Megan still have another year to go at this level.
 
Bearing in mind that age factor it is also worth mentioning that Lucy won the bronze medal in the 70 metres Hurdles Welsh Championship at Wrexham as recently as August, and followed this up with fourth place in the Combined Events Indoor Welsh Championships in Cardiff last month out of 19 competitors.
 
The highlight of that particular performance was her splendid run in the 800 metres, where she beat the time of the eventual competition winner by six seconds!
 

Enjoying other sports

 
It is also good to report that Lucy also enjoys other sports and during her final year at Hafan y Mor she was lucky to be part of agreat group of sporting girls, superbly coached by teacher Mr John Thomas, and supported strongly by all the other staff who travelled as far as Aberystwyth to help them.
 
Lucy and Co won the Pembrokeshire Tag Rugby tournament and as a result represented Pembrokeshire at the National Tag Rugby Finals in Aberystwyth in April, enjoying her roles as a cover tackler and try scorer. They must have played really well because their reward was to finish as Wales’s No2 Tag Rugby team in May this year.
 
The same group also won the Pembrokeshire (Girls) Cricket tournament and as a result represented Pembrokeshire at the National Cricket finals in Cardiff last June, and a family member cheekily described her as a useful slogger!
 
As a result they progressed to the semi-final in the National Cricket tournament in Cardiff a little later and really enjoyed the experience of playing on such a wonderful surface.
 
Lucy also enjoys netball, where she plays as goal defence and enjoys the speed at which the game is played.
 

And finally . . .       

 
Back on the athletics front, ask Lucy about her sporting heroine and she would be quick to nominate Jessica Ennis-Hill, the former Olympic champion in the heptathlon, and as to the question of her own ambitions it is simply to keep working hard in all areas of athletic competition and to keep enjoying what she does.
 
She is quick to sing the praises of her family for their support and also to coaches like Peter Freeman, Richard Thomas and Nigel Rowland for their respective help in middle distance, sprinting and hurdles, plus Sue Alvey and Luke Foley in the long jump.
 
In chatting to this modest and unassuming young lady it is evident that she gives 100% all the time and we wish her every success in continuing her athletics with Pembrokeshire Harriers!