A BEAT officer in the Buckskin area of Basingstoke has been selected to represent Great Britain Police in athletics in Australia next March.

Jayson Richards will be competing in the 400 metres at the nine-day World Police and Fire Games in Adelaide, beginning on March 16.

Now 32, he came into athletics by chance at the age of 25 while he was working at River Park Leisure Centre in Winchester, where he was duty manager and assistant operations manager.

This summer, he collected the silver medal at the police British championships, despite suffering damaged lateral knee ligaments, the legacy from making an arrest earlier in the year.

The serving Pc, who trains five days a week at Down Grange with several promising under-23 and under-20 internationals, said: "I only started in athletics when I was 25, completely by chance.

"A friend in a leisure centre where I worked, Ben Ellis, asked if I wanted to try the 400m, so that he didn't have to do it. It's fair to say that it's a tough event and I see now why he wasn't keen.

"However, I discovered I loved competing and the social aspect that athletics gave me. It's a fantastic sport that not only keeps you fit, but provides you with a whole group of friends to get fit and stay fit with.

"I am now 32 years old and, after joining the police in 2003, I initially stopped training due to having to miss so many training sessions because of shift work.

"I also lost my father to cancer just before I joined the police and, perhaps, lost some of my motivation.

"However, last autumn, having spent several years out, I started training again, due to a more flexible shift pattern."

Richards trains under John Davies, whose son Dean Showler-Davies is the reigning under-23 AAA decathlon champion and one of a number of Winchester AC athletes who train at Down Grange while they campaign for a track of their own.

Richards continued: "The road to recovery was pretty tough and, despite training in gyms, I had lost a lot of fitness and I kept getting hamstring injuries in both legs. The lateral knee ligament injury in March this year also set me back about eight weeks.

"Despite being older than your average athlete, I believe it's never too late to start.

I competed in my first national championships at the age of 32, at this year's 78th Police National Athletics Championships in Newport Stadium, Gwent, in July.

"I managed to get myself in reasonable shape and attacked the race, finishing behind the defending champion over 400m and 800m.

"On the back of that silver medal, I will get to represent Great Britain at two events in this country and, hopefully, in Adelaide.

"It should be a great event and an opportunity to meet with police from all over the world and compete."

Richards is looking for sponsorship to help fund the trip to Australia, but said that, regardless, he is "fairly determined to get there, albeit if self-financed".

He can be contacted by e-mail at jayson.richards@hampshire.pnn.police.uk