An eight-year-old boy from South Woodford has broken a 75m sprinting record at an event in Manchester after training with Dwain Chambers.

Ellis Gentles broke an event record for the under-nines 75m race at the Stockport Quadrathlon on Saturday (July 24), winning the race with a time of 11.3 seconds.

The event, which took place at the Manchester Regional Arena near the Etihad Stadium, has been running for more than ten years and the previous record of 11.4 seconds was set in 2010.

Ellis said: "I am so happy with my result and being able to break and set a new record. It felt great winning and also receiving my winner's medal and trophy. I am really looking forward to my next competition soon.

"I absolutely love running and I love athletics. The part I enjoy most is training with my friends and competing at events.

“My coach and I always work really hard to ensure I keep on improving as it is my dream to one day compete in the Olympics.

“My next goal is to break the European record for the fastest eight-year-old in the 75m and 150m.”

Father Ritchie Gentles, 35, said that he was “absolutely ecstatic” with Ellis’ result and praised his son’s focus and determination.

For the last year and a half, Ellis has been training with former British Olympic sprinter Dwain Chambers, who Ritchie said has told him Ellis “could go far”.

Despite breaking the record for the Stockport event, Ellis’ time at the weekend was not even a personal best.

At an event in Dagenham two months ago, he ran the 75m race in 11.1 seconds.

Ellis also runs 150m and competes in the long-jump, in which he came within 16cm of another event record at the weekend.

However, his ambitions lie in sprinting, where he has been competing and training against under-11s.

Ritchie said Ellis would "love to go to the Olympics and compete” and that he admires sprinters such as Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Tommy Ramdhan, and his coach Dwain Chambers.