Dame Kelly set up her scheme to mentor young athletes shortly before winning two gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and it has supported a generation of competitors such as world 1500 metres silver medallist and Olympian Hannah England and Non Stanford, the International Triathlon Union's under-23 world champion.

The project has been sponsored by the insurance group Aviva, which announced last October that it would be ending its headline sponsorship of UK Athletics at the end of 2012.

At the time of the announcement, a spokesperson for On Camp With Kelly told insidethegames: "We have a contract with Aviva which is completely separate from any deal they have with UKA, so any changes do not directly impact us."

Overall the scheme supported 80 athletes, who went on to earn 22 medals at Commonwealth, European or global level.

After the first training camp was held for eight athletes in South Africa shortly after the 2004 Olympics, similar initiatives took place in that country, as well as Australia, India - where a group attended the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi and supported several members taking part - Spain, Portugal and Germany.

Among the athletics figures who have contributed time to the scheme are Sebastian Coe and Margo Jennings, who coached both Dame Kelly and former world and Olympic champion Maria Mutola.

On Camp athletes were also able to experience world-class opposition early in their careers through 18 invitational On Camp With Kelly races at major domestic meetings.

The first "On Camp with Kelly'"event was a camp in South Africa for eight young female middle distance athletes, for four weeks soon after Dame Kelly's triumph at Athens 2004


In October 2011 an independent study showed that of the 45 athletes within the On Camp set-up at that time, 80 per cent were achieving at a higher level than peers outside the group.

Holmes commented:  "With Aviva's terrific support, I feel my personal goals for the programme developed in January 2004 have definitely been surpassed and now is the time to reflect and work out the next chapter.

"It has been a brilliant and very rewarding journey working with so many talented athletes. I'm  still working out my plans for the future support of the athletes who have almost become part of my extended family.

"The youngest athlete on my first camp in South Africa Non Stanford took the ITU World Under-23 Championship title in Auckland in December, which was a terrific achievement and I was so proud to watch two athletes from 'On Camp with Kelly' compete at London 2012.

"Building on the positive experiences and great achievements of  'On Camp with Kelly' as my flagship mentoring and education programme, Kelly Holmes Education has expanded over the past few years and I firmly believe effective mentoring and education lies at the heart of a successful transition from juniors to senior level in any sport."

Details about the development of Kelly Holmes Education can be found on a new website by clicking here. 

Contact the writer of this story at: [email protected]


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