Triumph against the odds is pulse-racing

Audiences are under starter’s orders for the 2012 Olympic Games with this unabashedly feel-good drama of sporting ambition against the odds.

We’re jogging in familiar territory here, following a talented 200m sprinter from the wrong side of the tracks, whose raw talent propels her into the British relay squad where she clashes with the team’s privileged golden girl.

Shot on location in London, Fast Girls injects bursts of pace within the sprightly 90-minute running time and puts the female cast through their paces with coaching from British female Olympians Jeanette Kwakye and Shani Anderson.

The script, co-written by Noel Clarke (Adulthood), Jay Basu and Roy Williams, passes the baton from one cliche to the next – forbidden romance, enmity mellowing into sisterly solidarity – culminating in a championship showdown that leaves a patriotic lump in the throat.

Shania Andrews (Crichlow) lives on a London council estate with her sister Tara (Benjamin) and trains for the 200m on a weather-beaten track with non-professional coach Brian (Davis).

Shania beats fast-rising Lisa Temple (James) in a qualification race to book her spot at the World Championships.

Lisa is incredulous and her father David (Graves), a former Olympic gold medallist with friends in high places, exerts even more pressure on his daughter to match his achievements.

Following the qualification race, coach Tommy Southern (Clarke) invites Shania to join the relay squad and tension between the teammates intensifies.

Fast Girls is a thoroughly engrossing slice of home-grown entertainment that swiftly tethers our affections to Shania so we root for the underdog in a world of corporate sponsorship and shameless nepotism.

If Britain’s athletes at the 2012 Games wear their hearts on their sleeves and risk everything like the characters in Hall’s undemanding film, it could be a gloriously golden summer.