PEMBROKESHIRE’S wheelchair sports superstar, Lily Rice, was amongst the UK’s top skaters and riders helping to celebrate a National Lottery anniversary on Saturday.

Lily, aged 15, who recently won the women’s WCMX world championship, dropped in at a Carmarthenshire skatepark to celebrate the £3 billion which lottery players have raised to help young people in the UK over the last 25 years.

Hundreds of youngsters went along to Ramps indoor and outdoor skatepark in Llanelli to meet their heroes, who included Olympic BMX free-styler from Swansea, James Jones; Britain’s leading street skateboarder and 2020 Olympic hopeful, Alex Decunha and YouTube influencer, Jake O’Neill (aka Jake100).

Watch a video from the event here

More than £340,000 was awarded by the National Lottery in 2013 to develop and build the skatepark, which now provides activities for over 15,000 young people a year.

Lily, from Manorbier, was propelled to fame two years ago when she became the first female in Europe to achieve a wheelchair back flip, and only the second girl in the world to pull off the stunt. Since then, Lily has emerged as one of the global leaders of WCMX – wheelchair motocross.

The Greenhill School pupil hails National Lottery-funded British Paralympic wheelchair athlete and London Marathon winner, David Weir, as her own inspiration.

She said: “By contributing towards building amazing facilities such as this indoor and outdoor skate park, National Lottery funding is helping thousands of young people of all abilities to reach their goals and discover new opportunities.

“ I have trained and practiced at numerous National Lottery funded skate parks and there is no doubt that the funding has helped wheeled sports enthusiasts to become healthier and more active.”

Representing the National Lottery family, Brian Davies, director of Elite Performance at Sport Wales, said: “Everyone here today recognises the momentous and positive impact the National Lottery has had on the lives of young people in our communities.

“ The National Lottery awards £30 million to good causes across the UK every week and, without that kind of support, facilities like this probably wouldn’t exist and they certainly wouldn’t be changing lives to the scale they are now.

“ Today is an opportunity to celebrate the extraordinary impact The National Lottery has had on the lives of so many young people and to say thank you to National Lottery players for their continued contribution, to amazing and inspiring projects such as this one.”