A YOUNG athlete is celebrating after she made it into the North-East record books for the second time.

Chloe Gill, 12, of Blackhill, Consett, is the new record holder for the under-13s North-East outdoor long jump. Leaping an incredible 4.44 metres, she smashed the 4.26-metre record that has stood for five years.

Her parents, David and Heather, missed her achieving the feat because they were attending the first communion of their eight-year-old daughter, Hannah, at St Mary's Church, in Blackhill.

Mrs Gill said: "It was the best jump of her life and we were not there to see it.

"The record had stood since 1999, so it was quite some achievement and we are over the moon for her."

Chloe, who was competing at an athletics event at Gateshead International Stadium at the weekend, also won the 200m race and came second in a photo finish for the 100m.

In January, Chloe, a pupil at St Bede's RC School, in Lanchester, broke her record for the indoor long jump at a competition in Jarrow, South Tyneside.

She started as a sprinter with Blackhill Bounders, at Blackfyne School, Consett, and only took up long jumping as something to do between races.

She trains with Gateshead Harriers, the club where world triple-jump champion Jonathan Edwards trained, and her feats have already attracted attention from the Olympic gold medal-winner's former coach, Peter Stanley.