SONIA OXLEY meets a Bury athlete with a great chance of a Commonwealth Games medal this summer

BURY athlete Beth Allott is hoping to hear local voices cheering her on when she represents England in the marathon at the Commonwealth Games in July.

Beth picked up a Games qualification time by running a personal best of 2hrs 34mins 43secs to come second in the Lisbon marathon in Portugal in November.

The UK's top female marathon runner is a former pupil of Woodhey High School, Ramsbottom, and first joined Bury Athletics Club when she was nine.

According to Beth, who lives on Crostons Road, her talent for running only really developed when she was a student at Loughborough University.

She said: "I used to run the 800m and the 1500m but I was never really that good at school."

It was in her final year of a sports science degree that she started to recognise her full potential.

She ran the Sheffield half marathon at lightning speed and decided that it would be worth devoting a lot more time to the sport.

"I was running the half marathon to raise money for a trip to Africa," added Beth.

"But because I did so well I never went to Africa as I decided to concentrate on running." The 24-year-old believes she has inherited her competitive instinct from her father who used to compete in the 110m hurdles.

She also feels that much of her success is due to the support she has got from the rest of her family.

She is definitely looking forward to competing in her home city in the summer, adding: "I'll be used to the conditions and am more likely to do well. Also the crowd will be behind me."

Beth, who now runs for Salford Harriers says she is not aiming to run a particular time at the Games, but will be going for a medal position.

"I've got plenty of time to look at the course and practise tactics. I'm going to be focusing on getting quicker and building up speed endurance."

At the moment she juggles a punishing training schedule with a teacher training course. She is studying at Bolton Institute until June to become a teacher of sports science.

"Once I've got the qualification I'll be able to do athletics full-time for the next two or three years. Then I'll have something to fall back on later," she said.

Her ultimate ambition is to be in the top 30 marathon runners in the world.

Eventually she would like to run the event in 2hrs 25mins.

"That sort of time is what makes you a world class athlete, rather than a top national one."

Despite her hectic lifestyle she still finds time for a boyfriend. Fittingly, he is also a committed sportman who is under the same sort of pressure. He is a triathlete who is hoping to compete in an Iron Man competition next year, which involves a one mile swim followed by a 100 mile cycle ride and a marathon.

Beth's local gym, Fitness First, Whitefield, has recently given her complimentary membership but apart from this she receives no other form of sponsorship and is desperately looking for more.

Anyone interested in sponsoring Beth should contact the Bury Times sports desk.