Jonathan Harries has been presented the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the school.

The Bedale High School pupil, who was a runner-up in the Under-16 age group at The Northern Echo's Local Heroes Awards last month, was nominated by five of his peers in year ten for his commitment and work in the field of track athletics for people affected by the cerebral palsy (CP) condition.

Jonathan's inspiration for taking up (CP) athletics followed a visit to the school last year from Hazel Robson, an Olympic gold paralympian whose greatest success came in the Sydney Olympics.

Hazel visited Bedale last summer with her mum Liz, and together they opened up the world of CP athletics to Jonathan and following some success in meetings across the country, Jonathan struck gold in the National Championships at Nottingham by winning the 800 metres.

Following the publicity earlier in the year in this newspaper about his gold medal success, Jonathan was approached by Sarah Jones, a Sheffield University student who is now acting as his personal coach. Sarah has a keen interest in sports psychology and physiology and together they hope to build on his achievements last summer and push on to further glory in the future.

Martyn Coombs, head of physical education at Bedale, said: "We at Bedale High School of very proud of Jonathan who has shown great determination to succeed despite his medical condition.

"He is a determined young man who has tremendous support from his family, coach, teachers and school friends and we all hope he goes on to more success in the future."

Head teacher, Dr John Critchlow, said: "He has brought real credit to Bedale High School and the town of Bedale."

The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award was launched nationwide in April 2000 to recognise and celebrate the outstanding contribution made by many secondary school students to their schools and communities.

Since the scheme was set up last year, over 1900 pupils from 750 secondary schools across the UK have received awards.

A presentation of his certificate was made by his own athletics heroine Hazel Robson who met up with him on her way to a training camp in Wigan.