SIXTEEN-year-old Alison Leonard won a bronze medal at the Norwich Union World Junior Trials and Under 20 and Under 23 AAAs Championships at Bedford.

Competing in the under-20s 800 metres against women up to three years older, it was her most competitive race for some time as the Chorley Harrier has been relatively untroubled by her rivals in the under-17s this summer.

Leonard won her heat in 2:12.29 to take her place in the final and was in contention until Emma Jackson of Stoke and Crawley's Danielle Christmas slipped away while Leonard was boxed.

Getting out of trouble, she came through for third in 2:08.35 with Jackson winning in 2:06.54 from Christmas' 2:08.01.

It was another job well done, even though her time was slightly slower than recent runs and ends her flickering hopes of a place at the World Junior Championships in Beijing.

But Leaonard will no doubt look back on 2006 as her breakthrough year, climaxing in a wonderful three consecutive weekends when she won English Schools and the Home Schools International and then this AAAs bronze medal.

Blackburn Harriers Paul Bradshaw and Chris Hart were out of luck at Bedford. Fair skinned Paul was one of two athletes to collapse during the same heat of the under-20 800m due to the extreme hot weather.

He was detained in the ambulance for some time afterwards but thankfully has made a complete recovery. Hart was unlucky to be involved in the quicker heat of the under-23s 1500m, and although ran faster than the winner of the other race, he failed to reach the final.

Like Leonard, Eleanor Markendale is still an under17, and she finished ninth in the under 20s long jump with 5.48m, while fellow Pendle competitor Amy Weaver was eighth in the under-20s shot with 11.68m.

Other local qualifiers Paul Whittle of Blackburn Harriers, Danny Eckersley from Burnley and Hyndburn's Stephen Sumner were eliminated in their heats.