AS well as being crowned a double UK champion, Imogen Newby played a key role in helping England to Home Nations glory at the Junior National Outdoor Championships at Lilleshall.

The 13-year-old Braintree Bowmen ace was making her England debut, so knew the hopes of her country as well as individual honours were at stake at the showpiece championships.

And she didn’t disappoint as another superb display saw her collect two under-14s national titles as well as being part of the victorious England and Southern Counties teams to underline her position as one of the country’s leading potential Olympic archers.

She said: “I’m the double UK Ladies Under-14 Recurve champion for 2017 - it doesn’t get much better than that.

“This is a great stepping stone and thank you to everyone who supports me in my pursuit of my Olympic dreams.”

The opening day saw the Home Nations competition, with English archers against their counterparts from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over a Metric IV round of 144 arrows over 40 metre, 30m, 20m and 10m distances.

Newby was up against some of her main rivals competing for individual titles and started well as she scored 321 points at 40m, but fell to third place with an under par round at 30m.

Words of advice from her father, Leon, worked wonders at 20m as she came out four points clear at the top, but the pressure was ramped up ahead of the final round when England team manager Tyler Fife relayed some information from the Home Nations match.

Newby added: “At this point, my team manager Tyler came up to see me and (England team-mate) Charlotte (Hampsall) and tell us that the Home Nations match rested on our shoulders.

“No pressure then - thanks Tyler - however, I knew what I had to do. My dad told me flawless shots were needed and flawless is what I gave him as I hit six 60 scores to ending the event on 1,360 points as the UK Ladies Under-14 Recurve champion with a new personal best, a national ten-metre record, four county records and a (Braintree) club record.”

England were also named as the Home Nations champions and Newby’s efforts also helped the Southern Counties team to victory.

The second day was all about individual honours as the Braintree star competed for the Bristol IV title.

She started well at 40 yards to open an early 12-point lead, but several poor shots saw her drop to third.

However, knowing she couldn’t afford any more slips, Newby regained her composure to finish with another flawless show at 20 yards saw her finish with 1,246 points for another personal best, another county record and, most importantly, her second national title of the weekend. She said: “I was over the moon. I worked so hard, my back was aching, my shoulder was giving me jip, but I was happy for it to be all over.”