TWO of Hyndburn's talented athletes made their television debuts - and celebrated medal success in front of the cameras.
Robbie Schofield and Leigh Lennon, both 16, are highly-rated in the athletics world and, if they continue their current progress, are tipped to go all the way in middle distance running.
And they continued their rise up the ladder with stunning performances at Birmingham at the Sainsbury's English Schools Athletics Track and Field Championships, which were shown live on Sky at the weekend.
Robbie was competing in the Under 17 intermediate boys 800m and had a tough schedule with a heat on Friday, the semi-final Saturday morning and the final in the afternoon.
The Clitheroe Grammar School pupil raced to third place in the final with a phenomenal time of one minute, 55.86 seconds.
And Leigh followed suit, smashing her personal best in the process.
She competed in the two lap heats on Friday for the intermediate ladies and then, in her semi-final, she was up against the No 1 and No 2 middle distance Under 17 girls in the country.
There was only the first two to qualify but she came third in a new personal best of 2.13.39 to reach the final as the first fastest qualifier.
The final was a repeat of the semi, with the No 1 and No 2 girls sealing the gold and silver medals and Leigh, who is at Witton Park High School, then ran out of her skin to smash her new personal best with 2.11.29.
Leigh admitted: "I broke my personal best so I can't complain. Third was great but second or first would have been better."
"She broke her personal best twice in 24 hours," said delighted dad and coach Don Lennon.
"It was a hard schedule for both Robbie and Leigh and they had the cameras in their faces all the time which I think they enjoyed after getting used to it.
"It was a massive race for them. I don't think people realise how big it is.
"Being a medallist at the English Schools means both can now qualify for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund which will help support them with warm weather training and things like that.
"It was a huge race and for both of them to get medals is awesome."
Leigh has competed in the English Schools before winning a silver medal in 2005 in the junior girls 800m.
Both Ribble Valley Athletic Club runners will now got on and represent England this weekend in the Home Schools International in Wales - it is the first English vest for both of them. And they will also represent the North West in the UK Schools Games in Coventry in August.
Both are also on the UK Sport's talent scheme which was set up to identify potential Olympic medal winners for 2012 and it means they get access to physiotherapists and dieticians to help them progress in the sport.
And Leigh has an extra boost in that she looks likely to get picked to attend double gold medallist Kelly Holmes' running camp next year at Loughborough University.
Leigh has met Kelly - a former winner of the English Schools event - a couple of times and, when she was nine, the Olympic star tipped a bright future for the teenager in the sport.
"We met Kelly when Leigh was nine and she saw her running and said one day she will be big in the sport if she carried on," said Don.
"And she has, she has stepped up at every level and it has been a steady progress."
Leigh is now ranked fifth in the UK in the 800m after moving up from 14th in her age group. She has knocked three seconds off her PB in the last few years and is one second off being in top spot.
Robbie's rise to the top ten in the country has been more rapid. The teenager has knocked 12 seconds off his personal best from two years ago and is now rated fourth in the country. He is two seconds off the No 1 spot in the UK.
