{"id":69203,"date":"2026-03-23T08:33:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kukrisports.com\/uk\/?page_id=69203"},"modified":"2026-03-23T08:39:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:39:45","slug":"england-athletics-ambassadors-ava-leadbetter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.kukrisports.com\/uk\/england-athletics-ambassadors-ava-leadbetter\/","title":{"rendered":"Ava Leadbetter"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"lazyblock-slideshow-Z1XSBWk wp-block-lazyblock-slideshow\"><div class=\"big-slider stretchout \">\n\t<div class=\"slides\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"slide  \" style=\"background-image: url('https:\/\/www.kukrisports.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/3.jpg'); background-position: 50% 50%;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"slide-overlay\"> <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"slide-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"slidecopy \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"slidecopy-copy\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<strong>Ava <\/strong>Leadbetter\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n    \t\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>About Ava:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ava Leadbetter is a rising middle-distance athlete who transitioned from over a decade of competitive dance into athletics at age 14. Known for her positivity, consistency and dedication, Ava has quickly become a standout performer in both track and cross-country events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Event: <\/strong>3000m<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Level: <\/strong>Club<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Club: <\/strong>Copeland Athletics Club<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Personal Bests:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; 3000m \u2013 9:42:68 \u2013 BUCS Indoor Athletics Championships (2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; 5000m \u2013 17:18 \u2013 BUCS Outdoor Athletics Championships (2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; 5km \u2013 17:44 \u2013 Quayside 5k event (2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; 10km \u2013 35:21 \u2013 Jarrow 10k event (2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best Achievements: <\/strong>One of the strongest BUCS XC performances in Newcastle University\u2019s history (finished in top 20). Recently finished 7<sup>th<\/sup> in BUCS Indoors 3000m women\u2019s finals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>How did you first get involved in athletics?<\/strong><br>\u201cI decided to join my local middle-distance group when I was 14, after spending over 10 years dancing competitively. I thrived in the positive training environment and loved the feeling of pushing myself out of my comfort zone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What has been your proudest moment in athletics so far?<\/strong><br>\u201cRecently placing in the top 20 in the BUCS XC long course was my greatest performance so far. It was one of the best performances at BUCS XC in Newcastle University\u2019s history, and it felt like all my hard work and consistency over the winter had paid off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are your long-term goals in athletics?<\/strong><br>\u201cMy long-term goal is to represent England and GB in international competition, hopefully soon as an U23. I also want to keep training sustainably, making sure I enjoy my training and competitions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Who are your role models in athletics?<\/strong><br>\u201cMy role models are Allie Ostrander and Keely Hodgkinson. I admire Allie for her positivity in overcoming an eating disorder and becoming stronger and faster after recovery. I look up to Keely for her relaxed mindset around training and her ability to lock in and perform at her best in competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What does being a Kukri Sports Ambassador mean to you?<\/strong><br>\u201cBeing a Kukri Sports Ambassador means so much to me. Kukri\u2019s sportswear is worn by inspiring athletes and teams at the highest level, and wearing it makes me feel empowered and excited to follow in the footsteps of my role models.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What do you hope to achieve in your role?<\/strong><br>\u201cI want to create content that shows the realities of my life and journey as an athlete. I hope to inspire others and help make Kukri stand out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-keep-up-to-date-with-ava-s-journey\">Keep up to date with Ava&#8217;s journey:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/avaleadbetter_\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">INSTAGRAM<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@avaleadbetter_?lang=en-GB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TIKTOK<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:24px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ava-s-updates\">Ava\u2019s updates:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kukrisports.com\/uk\/news\/england-athletics-ambassadors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR OTHER AMBASSADORS <\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About Ava: Ava Leadbetter is a rising middle-distance athlete who transitioned from over a decade of competitive dance into athletics at age 14. Known for her positivity, consistency and dedication, Ava has quickly become a standout performer in both track and cross-country events. Event: 3000m Level: Club Club: Copeland Athletics Club Personal Bests: &#8211; 3000m [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":69217,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-69203","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>England Athletics Ambassadors - Ava Leadbetter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about Ava Leadbetter, a rising star who transitioned from dance to athletics, achieving impressive personal bests.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kukrisports.com\/uk\/england-athletics-ambassadors-ava-leadbetter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ava Leadbetter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about Ava Leadbetter, a rising star who transitioned from dance to athletics, achieving impressive personal bests.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kukrisports.com\/uk\/england-athletics-ambassadors-ava-leadbetter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Kukri UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kukrisports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-23T08:39:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.kukrisports.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/03\/3-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1007\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@KukriSports\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kukrisports.com\\\/uk\\\/england-athletics-ambassadors-ava-leadbetter\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.kukrisports.com\\\/uk\\\/england-athletics-ambassadors-ava-leadbetter\\\/\",\"name\":\"England Athletics Ambassadors - 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