PINT-sized Danielle Walker proved she has the biggest heart by overcoming a bad fall to clinch a coveted place in the English fell running team.

The Burnley AC runner - who is just 4ft 2in and weighs four-and-a-half stone - stumbled on the downhill stretch of the Three Shires Fell Race in Langdale in the Lake District on Saturday.

But the determined teenager managed to recover to come second in the Under 16 Home International Trial - despite being only 13 years old - and qualify for an England place.

"She is on crutches at the moment," said her step-dad David Goodwin. "She fell really badly, injured her knee which was all bloody, banged her head and was slightly concussed.

"But she got back up and carried on even though she had a way to go. She crossed the line and the medics had a look at her. She has a swollen knee and will be on crutches for a week or two but will be okay after that."

Danielle's heroic run means she is set to become Burnley's first international since Anna Kostilek nearly 20 years ago.

And an added boost to her winning her first England call-up was that she has gained some sponsorship.

Burnley's Eric Wrathall, from Felldancer Limited, has provided her with some fell shoes which will be extremely useful if she carries on at the current rate.

But it was a tough call for the Habergham High School pupil on Saturday as the Under 14s and Under 16s trial race to qualify for the Under 16s Home International - to take place in North Wales next month - was combined.

Only the first two runners automatically qualified from the Cumbrian event, the other two were at the selectors' discretion.

Danielle easily won the Under 14s race - she was two-and-a-half minutes ahead of the next Under 14 - and came a superb second in the Under 16s to earn an England vest.

Selector Norman Matthews thinks she is the youngest runner England have selected for the International.

The teenager has come a long way since she took up running at Todmorden Road Primary School and was advised by a teacher there to join Burnley AC.

Since then, Danielle hasn't looked back. The titles just keep coming - she proudly holds the Lancashire Under 13 and Under 15 800m and 1500m championship after spending last season unbeaten, she is North of England cross-country champion and has won the Mid-Lancs and Red Rose cross country Leagues for the last two years.

And making her Three Lions debut will be the icing on the cake - and that is despite being touch and go whether she would compete last weekend after falling ill at the Northern Inter Counties event representing Lancashire the Saturday before.

"She is a phenomenon," said her step-dad. "They call her the Little Zola Budd!

"She can just run and run and run.

"She prefers the mud to the track - she won the North of England cross-country championships in Derby and enjoyed it because it was hilly and muddy. That's her favourite.

"But for such a little girl she has such strength. She has something special, a God-given talent and her mum and I and everyone at Burnley AC are so proud of what she has achieved."

The only downside to the weekend was that Danielle didn't manage to complete the required four races to clinch the English Fell Under 14 Championship - the race doubled up as the final English championship run of the season. She had two wins and a second place to her credit but her final placing is likely to be fourth.