A TRAINEE solicitor got her skates on at the weekend to become a British champion.

Rachel Masters, 23, from Darlington, works for Gateshead Council as a trainee solicitor.

She has been skating for years with the Durham District Roller Skating Club, coached by Janet Lodge, and spends up to five hours training four times a week.

In the past she has competed for the British team in Belgium and Switzerland, and has been third and fourth in national competitions.

However, all of her hard work paid off at the weekend when she scooped the British Senior Ladies Freeskating title at the British Artistic Roller Skating Championships in Maidstone, Kent.

Rachel said: "I was really pleased when I won. I came third last year and have come fourth a couple of times as well, but after last year I decided I wanted to train harder than usual.

"The competition works the same as ice skating. It's exactly the same sort of thing that you do, the spins and jumps are slightly different, but it is more or less the same, just on roller skates instead."

Her interest in the sport began when her grandad used to take her to South Park in Darlington to watch the skaters there, and he bought her her first pair of skates.

She was so hooked on the sport she continued training throughout her time at Hummersknott School and Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form in Darlington and when she studied law at the University of Northumbria.

She said: "It was pretty difficult through university to keep it up, but it kept my mind off exams and things by training hard.

"I just enjoy it. It keeps you fit, because you need fairly high stamina levels, and you have to be capable of dancing. There are quite a few aspects to it."