Fifteen year old Sheffield race walker Natalie Myers tackled her first 10km race just 15 days after moving into the U17 age group that allowed her to move up from 5km to the 10 km distance.

Natalie’s motivation was the outside chance of making the Great Britain Junior team for the European Race walking Cup in Leamington Spa in May. An ambition that is shared by her training partners Rebecca Mersh and Kathryn Granger. With a qualifying time of 53 mins, Natalie knew that she had to start gaining experience over the new distance and was keen to complete one at the earliest opportunity.

Racing in the Yorkshire Winter League event in Cleckheaton Natalie passed the 5km mark in 28.28, only 14 seconds outside her best for the distance before slowing by a minute in the second half to record 57.40 and put herself at number 5 in the U20 rankings for this year.