FORMER Olympic bronze medallist Kate Allenby from Tavistock has been awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours List. The retired modern pentathlete, who is now a coach and ambassador for the sport, said this week she was 'excited and flattered' that people had taken the time to nominate her for her services to sport. 'It is going to take a little bit of getting used to but I am absolutely thrilled, said Kate, 33, who became a household name when she took bronze at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. 'It was really flattering to be nominated by the likes of Alida Pollard, from the Spooners and West Dartmoor Pony Club where I started off, and supported by people like Tessa Jowell and other members of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 'It is great for pentathlon, which is a minority and a woman's sport, to get A high profile in the honours list as historically it is a bit of a boys' club.' Kate enjoyed a decade at the top of her sport after winning a bronze in the 1994 World Junior Championships, which she followed up with a silver the following year. She made the leap to senior competition in 1996, taking a bronze in the World Cup. The 1997 European title followed and in 1998 she won the World Cup title and was part of the British team which took World Championship silvers in 1998 and 1999. Kate added a team gold to her wins in the World Cup following the Sydney Olympics, with Olympic champion Steph Cook and Sian Lewis. In 2003 she finished third in the World Championships, and in her final year of competition she won a silver medal and added the World Cup for good measure. A specialist fencer she won individual and team bronze at the Commonwealth Championships in 2000, improving to take silver in 2002 . She retired from Modern Pentathlon in 2004 to concentrate on fencing and became national champion in 2005. Since then Kate has been in charge of setting up and running modern pentathlon training at a school in Croydon as well as getting married and becoming a mother to eleven-month-old Megan. She recently brought a group of youngsters to Dartmoor for some riding training (see story page 40). Her services to sport include being chairman of the British Athletes Commission and working for the International Pentathlon Federation. Alongside raising the profile of the sport, Kate has been responsible for making sure athletes'­ opinions and views are heard — a job which she says has enabled her to give something back to the sport. l Nicky Francis from Longcross near Tavistock will receive an OBE at Buckingham Palace next year for her work with the Child Support Agency where she is a project manager.