SHE may only be 11 years old, but Carley Wenham is a sprint star in the making.

Just 18 months after taking her first steps on to a track, the Crawley youngster is ranked No. 1 in the country at under-11 level and No. 2 in the under-13 age group.

On making her debut at Crystal Palace ten days ago, her coach told her just to enjoy the experience. Carley did - by winning all three races, with her best time being faster than all bar one of the under-15 girls on display.

In fact, since she started racing Wenham has only ever lost one race and that was at the unfavoured distance of 200m where she finished second.

Coach Andy Edwards reckons the Ifield Middle School pupil will go on to run for her country and few would dispute that if she continues to make such rapid progress.

Edwards said: "I think she will run for England. In fact, I have no doubts about it.

"She has natural ability, great determination and trains very hard. She is also a very dedicated athlete.

"As long as she keeps fit, everything is there for her."

Wenham was introduced to Crawley Athletics Club after standing out at an after school athletics class.

She won her first race and since then has remained unbeaten at 75m, 100m and 150m.

Her first big achievement came last May when she twice broke the championship record on her way to winning the Sussex under-13 girls' 75m title at her home track.

Since then she has helped Crawley under-13s win the McDonalds League title for the first time in many years and has also gone on to represent Sussex.

Carley has a best of 9.9 seconds for 75m and 13.5 for 100m. A recent sponsorship donation of £500 from Gatwick Parking has enabled her to buy a set of blocks and some new spikes - and that will help her go even faster.

The Bewbush youngster said: "I love running, it is fun and I would like to go to the top. I would love to run for England and maybe in the Olympics."

Dad Terry Wenham added: "We are all very proud of her. The problem we are having now is that there is nobody in Sussex to really push her and we might have to move her up to under-15s.

"Already she is sometimes training with the under-15 boys at Crawley, so that we can push her."

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