EMILY Swarbrick is a British fell running champion – yet she came so close to packing the sport in after just a single race.

The 12-year-old, from Bootle, has stormed up hill and down dale this year to be crowned the British Open Fell Running Association (BOFRA) Under-12s Girls champion.

Winning races in England and Scotland, the Millom School pupil showed a fine mastery of off-road running, conquering steep slopes and displaying a keen ability to descend both quickly and safely.

She was never outside the top three places in all 15 events she contested – never missing a single race.

Victory at Coniston Gullies in the second counter was followed by further triumphs at Helm Hill, the Alva Games in Scotland, Cracoe, Farleton Knott, Arncliffe Gala, Burnsall and Embsay.

With eight scores counting towards the final championship, Swarbrick had a perfect total of 480 points to take the BOFRA title by a convincing margin.

It is quite an achievement for a youngster who started competing when she was nine, and had a nasty fall at her first event that almost made her pack in fell running altogether.

Swarbrick said: “I liked fell-running, but I found it hard at first. It got easier as I kept doing it – but I wasn’t really good when I started. In my first race, I fell over and came nearly last. I didn’t really want to do it again, but I got better and it built my confidence up – the more races I ran, the better I became.”

She picked out victory at the Langdale Gala and her BOFRA Series success as the high points so far, and said of her national win: “It was tough, but it got easier the more races I did.”

Mum Vicky Bloor added: “She got into it through PE at school. She really enjoyed the long distance, then we found about Broughton Runners through Brian Dawson. She started going there and started running and training once a week.

“She found out about the races, but the first race she did, she fell over and came last. She was devastated and wanted to give up.

“But it just happened that there was another race the next week, which was part of the English Championships. She did really well in that and she’s just gone from there.”

Three years a Broughton Runners member, Swarbrick is a talented all-rounder, winning the Furness Schools cross-country title at Furness Academy last month, despite racing in the Year 8 and 9 category as one of the youngest entrants.

Last year, the former Waberthwaite School pupil made the Cumbria team for the Northern Championships, and finished in the top four there to go through to the Year 7 National finals.

On the track – after Cumbria School’s coach John Pownceby suggested her cross-country ability could be transferred to middle-distance running – Swarbrick was crowned Furness 1,500m champion in her first race over the distance.

She followed up with victory at Whitehaven in the Cumbria Schools Year 7 Girls final.

“It was John Pownceby who spoke to Emily about the track,” added mum Vicky. “Because she was in the county championships at cross-country and went to the nationals, he said that her speed over 1,500m meant she should be doing track.

“When the school track season started, she won the district and the county – she had never been on track before.

“She finds it a bit boring doing the laps of the track compared to the fells, but if you can be the county champion, then you want to do it.”

Swarbrick added: “The fell running races are a lot more interesting, I don’t get bored as much, as when you are going round a circuit.”

It is on the fells where the young runner has enjoyed the majority of her success.

Now a member of Cumberland Fell Runners – with whom she trains two or three times a week in Whitehaven – Swarbrick finished ninth in the Year 8 and 9 English Schools Fell Running Championships in September (again when she was almost two years younger than some runners) and took the BOFRA crown.

She finished fifth in the Fell Running Association English Championships and has a string of individual race victories to her name. Younger sister Olivia, nine, has started running as well, having travelled to events to watch her sister in action.

“She really does enjoy it, and it’s social as well – especially with the BOFRA, where they meet up and walk the courses together,” said Vicky. “She has friends she would never have met if not for the fell running.”

Swarbrick is aiming to make the Cumbria Schools cross county team with a top-12 finish at Sedbergh in January, while she will step up an age group on the fells next year, where she will again contest the BOFRA series.

“It gives me a lot of confidence racing and winning against older children,” she said of her recent successes. “I’ll move up and be at the bottom of my age group next year, so it will be a lot tougher.”