It may have taken a little while to sink in but Sydney Strugnell can bask in the full glory of being a national archery champion.

The 11-year-old Braintree Bowmen member claimed the under-12 women’s recurve title at the Junior National Outdoor Championships at Lilleshall in the Bristol V round to add to the silver medal she took in the Metric V round the previous day.

Strugnell picked the perfect time and stage to set two new personal best scores, bettering her previous record by 34 points in the Metric V with a total of 1,326 and 39 in the Bristol V with a winning total of 1,248 that put her in level first place and made her joint national champion.

Having only started archery just over two years ago, it has been a meteoric rise for the youngster from Copford near Colchester and her father Mark said her achievements had taken a little while to sink in.

He said: “She was over the moon, but I don’t think she quite understands what she has done as it’s such a big achievement.

“It wasn’t until we got there on the first day that it she realised what a massive event it was.

“On day one, she shot lovely and came second in the Metric V round, but we didn’t know that when we sat down for the presentation and the look on her face when they announced she had taken silver was incredible – she couldn’t believe it.

“At the presentation she was able to meet Patrick Huston, the British Olympic archer who is going to Rio, and she had a chat with him, which really seemed to inspire her as it seemed to switch a button on in her head when it came to the Bristol V round the next day.

“She was shooting on the same target as the girl who got gold the day before and we knew it was going to be tight, but we thought she’d finished third at the end and she was pleased with that.

“They said the girl who won on the Saturday was third and I knew Sydney hadn’t finished lower than that, so we were really pleased with another silver, but when they announced she was the joint gold winner, the look on her face was just amazing.

“She was over the moon and I just can’t put into words how proud I am of here.

“Archery is Sydney’s release and words just can’t explain how I feel.

“She doesn’t quite realise what she has achieved, but she knows she is national champion and she definitely wants more.

“She wants to put more into it now and see where she can go with it.”

Sydney is set to return to action this weekend at the Southern Counties Championships in Colchester.