FOR Bethan Wakefield the 2011 season is shaping up to be a golden summer to remember.

The 16-year-old from Yatton has been busily adding gold medals to her collection with a 100 and 200m sprint double at the South West Schools' Championships.

She clocked wind-assisted personal bests of 11.84secs and 25.23secs respectively, supplementing her 100m triumphs in the Avon and West of England Championships.

Wakefield then stepped up another level to produce her best ever performance at the English Schools' Championships, finishing fifth in the inter girls' 100m in a legal best of 11.97secs.

The Backwell School student's performance was one of the highlights of the Avon team, and just to round off a great weekend, she returned home to discover that she had finally won the Easy Runner/adidas athlete of the month competition featured in the Evening Post.

No wonder that Wakefield doesn't want the season to end.

"The English Schools' was amazing," said Wakefield.

"I did not expect to get to the final so just to do that was a great experience.

"Initially I just wanted to get through the heats on Friday to make sure I was in the semi finals on Saturday, but to finish fifth in the final and break 12 seconds again, only this time with a legal wind, was brilliant.

"It feels like I am in the form of my life at the moment and I am really enjoying my athletics.

"This is definitely my best ever season and fifth at the weekend is the best thing I have ever done.

"And now to win the Easy Runner competition as well is great news."

It has taken Wakefield several seasons of hard work to reach her current level of success having first impressed in the sport when winning the sprint race at the Yatton Junior School sports day.

That saw her join North Somerset AC before switching, with the encouragement of her Welsh father, to Newport Harriers across the other side of the Bristol Channel.

Since then Wakefield has made steady progress every season, but admits that she has leapt forward over the past twelve months.

"I am part of the South West Talent Development squad and that has seen me getting weight training sessions at Bath University during the winter for the first time," added Wakefield. That has definitely helped me and I will be looking to do more of that in the future.

"I have started to see a lot of improvement and that has been very encouraging.

"I would like to think I could run 11.7 or 11.8secs this season but if not then I'll be happy with that I have achieved. It has been a great summer so far."