IT IS an event that couldn’t have been bettered timed.

Photographer Paul Floyd Blake has spent five years creating Personal Best, an exhibition which explores the stories of 16 young athletes in the build up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The exhibition runs at the impressions gallery in Bradford until September 9. On Thursday, August 16 (6.30pm) there will be a chance to hear Paul talk about his work.

In Personal Best, Paul documents a unique time in British history.

The young people ranged in age from 13 to 22 years old, and were training to compete in a range of sports from fencing to tae kwondo, kayaking to marathon running.

Some sporting careers flourished, such as that of table tennis competitor Ashley Facey Thompson, who has been selected for Team GB for the London 2012 Paralympics Games.

However, others faced intense social and financial pressures that forced them to leave the world of competitive sport. Blake continued to photograph all the young people, irrespective of their path.