Professional kitesurfer Hannah Whiteley was crowned the British Freestyle Ladies Champion at the final round of the British Freestyle Championships this last weekend in Blackpool.
The 19 year old from Stockport also set a new kitesurfing record by becoming the only woman ever to retain the title in 3 consecutive years.
Hannah who is sponsored by, ExPix, Wainman, Chiemsee, Prolimt, and Kiteitright said, "It's amazing; winning the title for the first time when I was only 17 was brilliant but winning for the third time and setting new records is fantastic. Being a girl it's important for me to get the recognition and credibility in such a male dominated arena; hopefully by setting the new record I will have done just that!"
All round sports enthusiast Hannah, who kitesurfers, snowboards, wakeboards, skates, ice skates and trampolines was on every sports team at school, broke records for running and was awarded the Best Athletics Performer at school.
Despite enjoying success at an early age, Hannah is certainly no diva. Passionate about sport she exudes enthusiasm and leads by example. Showing patient and encouragement she is an inspiration to fellow athletes and a perfect role model.
Hannah said, "I'm lucky that I've had the opportunity to try out and compete in a variety of sports from an early age and I'm grateful to my parents for encouraging me. For me sport is a way of life and is character building. I didn't have time to hang around street corners or get up to mischief as a kid as I was always out training or free riding somewhere, whether it be down at the local skate park, UK Skate, in Stockport, kitesurfing at Lytham, St Annes, or wakeboarding and snowboarding all over the UK.
It's great being able to hook up with your mates and go riding together; the camaraderie is fantastic and the banter is even better! We push each other to try new moves and everyone is so supportive of one another.
It's a shame that more kids don't have the opportunities that I had; with the Olympics just around the corner, I'd like to see more kids participating in sport, especially extreme sports as these aren't usually taught at schools. I'm now working with my sponsor's ExPix on a number of projects aimed at doing just that. The plans are really exciting and we're busy looking for other companies to come on board and support what we're doing.
There are also lots of girls out there who get embarrassed about competing in sport and I'd like to do what I can to help them build their confidence.
There's so much more I want to do now but my first priority has to be to sit down, plan my next moves and set some goals. That way I've got more chance of achieving what I'm aiming to do.
I've got an amazing team behind me who truly believe in what I'm doing and I'm looking forward to working with them again in 2012."
