AN Allerton archer has done her city proud by being part of a Great Britain team which took home a medal from a big championships.

Beth Rhodes, 16, helped the compound cadets women’s team capture bronze at the European Youth Championships in Bucharest earlier this month.

It was Beth's first ever international competition following almost a decade's worth of hard work and dedication.

After witnessing her family have a passion for the sport, she passed her beginners course at the age of eight and shot a recurve bow. Beth started at Aire Valley Archers before joining Riggwelter Field Archers. The Beckfoot Thornton student got her first compound bow at the age of 13 and never looked back.

In May 2019, at 14, she was competing with the under 16s at an outdoor distance of 50 metres, setting Yorkshire and Northern County records and taking silver in the Field Archery 3D National Championships.

A couple of months later, the Junior National Outdoor Championships, hosted at Archery GB, came around, her first insight into a major competition. By November that year, Beth came fifth in the Junior Indoor National Championships.

She has represented her county since October 2019 and became Yorkshire Compound champion earlier this year.

To qualify for the GB team, Beth had to score well on two selection shots down at their Telford base. She did a great job and gained a chance to represent her nation at the tournament.

Mother Rachel Rhodes said: "They all had an absolute amazing time. The coaches have never really had a squad that has bonded like this one. In 40 degrees heat, they were up at 5am to go shoot. It was a gruelling schedule for her.

"They did really well to say there was no expectation put on them. She has only just been picked for the GB squad, so this is only the start of her journey."

Beth will now endure a winter of intense training to maintain her strength and range for the upcoming European and World Championships.

Rachel added: "We are looking for an indoor venue for winter training. She needs to be shooting three/four times a week. Her bow is about 37 pounds currently and she needs to be up to 44 pounds, so she has got a lot of strength and conditioning work to do over the next few months. If there are any local businesses, who have capacity for a 20 metre range for just the one target, please do get in touch (rachy.rhodes1@gmail.com )."

With Beth's equipment being so expensive, she has also set up a Go Fund Me page (https://uk.gofundme.com/f/beth-rhodes-archery-fund) to help fund her journey.