WOODFORD Green with Essex Ladies athletes Tara Bird and Linzi Snow spent a day training with Olympic double gold medalist and mentor Dame Kelly Holmes at a recent Aviva sponsored event.

The pair are part of Holmes’ successful ‘On Camp with Kelly’ initiative, which seeks to develop the country’s finest middle distance runners into world class talents.

Bird and Snow took the opportunity to catch up with the Athens Olympics’ 800m and 1500m gold medal winner in order to review their performances over the past year and plan ahead to what they hope will be an even more fruitful season in 2009.

The local athletes were put through their paces in a vigorous training session on the grass fields of Tonbridge School, before taking some time out to receive some physio and massage treatment.

Bird enjoyed an impressive 2008 campaign on the track, as she managed to lower her 800m personal best to 2min 3.56sec while she also achieved a strong fifth place finish in the Aviva National Champion-ships over the distance.

She said: “It’s always great to attend the get-togethers and I take away something new every time.

“Each get-together Kelly gives a new lesson in what it takes to be a world class athlete.

“I hope 2009 sees me lower my 800m best further and win a medal at the European Under 23 Championships.”

Meanwhile, Snow, who has recently accepted a sports scholarship at the prestigious Florida State University, was equally pleased to have had the chance to pick the brain of one of Great Britain’s most successful and popular athletes.

“It’s great to see Kelly and the girls, especially as I am now living in the US.

“I want to achieve a big personal best in 2009, to run well at the National Collegiate Championships in the States and go to the European Under 23 Championships,” she said.