An athlete who lost the use of her legs in a road accident has overcome all the odds to win a hattrick of national titles - qualifying for the Commonwealth Games in the process.
Former Uttoxeter Thomas Alleyne's High School pupil Lizzie Tench was paralysed from the waist down after a being involved in a road accident while cycling in 2012.
But she found the resolve to become one of the top competitors in the global paratriathlon circuit.
The 43-year-old won the European and British championships and came second in the world championships last year.
However, this year she has had to overcome a massive disadvantage after new rules came into play.
Lizzie said: "My victory means more to me and is more special because I overcame the factoring that’s come into play in the sport to win by a fairly big margin.
"This year, as I’m classified as an H2 competitor, meaning I’ve been judged to be less impaired than some of my competitors, who are classed as H1, they effectively get a 4min 47sec head start.
"I was the fastest athlete at the World Cup in Spain by nearly two minutes, but still only got silver because of the factoring.
"I was third fastest at another event in Austria, but ended up being ranked fifth.
"So to come right from the back of the field to overtake to H1 girls and win this race was something I’m really proud of.
"The fact I managed to beat Karen Darke, who won gold in the hand cycling in Rio, for the first time was amazing as well. I was absolutely elated."
Now Lizzie is looking forward to her first competitive multi-sport games, assuming she is selected in the England squad.
She said: "This will be the first Commonwealth Games I’ll have taken part in and I’m hugely excited – assuming I’m selected.
"It’ll be the first time I’ll have competed in a games, as my class of competition was not included in the Rio Paralympics.
"All the other events I’ve performed at so far have been triathlon events, so it’ll be amazing to be involved in such a big multi-sports event.
"Also, although I don’t know whether it will be televised or not, it would be amazing to have my event featured on TV."
The games will be held in the idyllic Gold Coast, in Australia, next summer.
