A LOCAL teenager was the first female across the line at the Irish Laser Championship earlier this month, a success which saw her crowned First Lady and therefore Ladies Irish National Champion.
16 year-old Frances Fox has had a busy summer; she came second in the under 21 youth girls section and fourth female overall at the National Championships and then went on to win First Lady at the Irish Championships – plus she picked up her GCSE results last week, gaining 9 8s, A*s and As in all subjects.
Frances said, “I only started racing three years ago, which is quite unusual as most people start when they are seven or eight years-old.
“I started sailing when I was nine but it was only a week’s children’s course on holiday. But someone at the sailing club I went to mentioned about racing so, soon after that, I bought a boat and entered my first competition. I came last and I capsized a lot, but I didn’t mind. It wasn’t about winning, it was about trying something new and seeing how I got on. The next competition I entered I came second last, so at least I made progress! I’ve always been the type of person to throw myself into things.
“In a few weeks I will be competing in a qualifier to be on the Great British Youth Squad. I’m a member of the Junior Squad but there is a big jump to the Youth Squad and the next level up is the first GB team. I’m looking forward to it and really hope I do well. It would be a dream come true to eventually be in the first team, but I’ll just see how it goes for now. At the end of the day I’m young, so I have a few years in which to get there. I have to do a lot of land training as well as on the water, and Frome Sport & Fitness have been amazing with their support.
“Sailing does take up most of my time, I don’t think I’ve seen my friends out of school all year! You have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to training, on and off the water. When I was revising for my GCSEs, I deleted all social media and my Netflix account so I could concentrate – although there wasn’t a lot of time for procrastination anyway!”
