AN INSPIRATIONAL teenager from Whitby will blaze a trail through the streets of Chester next month after being chosen to carry the Olympic Torch.

Caitlin Kennedy was put forward for the once-in-a-lifetime relay by a teacher at the Whitby High School, where the dedicated 18-year-old worked tirelessly to transform the school’s sporting life.

Caitlin, from Whitby, spent four years as a Platinum Sport Ambassador for the Cheshire Oaks School Sport Partnership, tasked with promoting physical activity among her fellow students.

Last year she collected more than 1,000 signatures to save the partnership – which helps high schools work with primary pupils to encourage participation – after the Government threatened to pull its funding.

Caitlin, now a student at the University of Chichester, said: “It’s so exciting to be part of the Olympic Games and I am delighted that I have been given the opportunity to carry the torch as it passes through West Cheshire.

“The nerves are starting to kick in now but I know the event will be fantastic.”

Despite juggling her duties with the pressures of schoolwork, Caitlin organised and ran extra-curricular clubs, competitions, Duke of Edinburgh Award schemes and residential trips, coached windsurfing and trained young sports leaders.

She also arranged a ‘mini Olympics’, uniting more than 400 primary school pupils in a mass celebration of sport.

And the teenager even found time to compete in two Junior Windsurfing World Championships and raise hundreds of pounds for charities, including Sport Relief and Macmillan Cancer Research.

The Olympic Torch Relay will arrive in Chester on May 29 and depart on May 30, with a celebration taking place at the racecourse.