The Birmingham National Indoor Arena based event capped a wonderful indoor season for the 16-year-old St Nicholas RC High School pupil.

She improved her personal best time twice in four races, clocking 7.71 seconds in the final to win silver. Helen was denied gold in a photo finish by Wales' Danielle Selley, who was a hundredth of a second ahead.

Helen's time was five hundredths of a second quicker than her previous personal best, which she set finishing second in the semifinal.

Having begun the season with a best of eight seconds, she has improved in each event and became Cheshire champion last month in a time of 7.77 seconds.

The Sale Harrier will now concentrate her efforts on preparing for the outdoor season as she enters the second year of the junior women's age category.

Richard Griffin, Helen's father, said: "It is nice to know Helen is one of the top sprinters in the country in her age group now but she won't let it go to her head. She will just concentrate on training for the start of the season."

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