WHEN a tiny two-year-old South-ampton tot put on her first pair of ice-skates and took to the ice at the city's old rink in 1984, no one imagined it would lead to an array of competitive accolades.

But having won a bronze medal from the British Ice-skating Championships by the time she was just 14, Kathryn Elliott, of Kipling Road, Eastleigh, has proved she is no ordinary girl.

Kathryn, now 21 and studying business at Southampton Institute, regularly went ice-skating with her parents as a child where her love for the sport blossomed.

Encouragement came naturally from her mum, Julia, who is an ice-skating coach and her dad, David, who was an ice-hockey referee.

But after the Southampton rink closed when Kathryn turned six she had to find somewhere else to skate.

Fortunately a rink in Gosport opened a year later and after joining the synchronised skating team at 14, she was launched into the British Championships.

Since then Kathryn has competed in the championships five times and even skated during the opening and closing ceremonies of the World Championships aged just 13.

Now, only eight years later, she has qualified as a 'Bronze Judge' to sit on the panel for the adult British Championships.

Kathryn said: "I have always enjoyed ice-skating. It's a great hobby and really rewarding.

"But you have to work at it. I put in a lot of hard work when I was in the team and trained for hours each week, giving up a lot of my spare time.

"My parents encouraged me and they paid for all the training as well."

Committee member of Southampton Ice Dance and Figure-Skating Club Eileen Long remembers Kathryn from her earlier days on the ice.

She said: "I've known Kathryn all her life and I think she has done remarkably well. She will be a huge asset to the new ice rink when it is opened in 2005."

Construction work for Southampton's brand new ice rink to be built at West Quay will get under way at the end of this month.