PARALYMPIC ace Maria Lyle was rubbing shoulders with some of sport’s biggest names at the weekend.

Lyle, from Dunbar, won a silver medal and two bronze at the Rio Paralympic Games in the summer, and was one of many Team GB athletes to attend the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards.

The 16-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, said it was a “great evening”.

She told Courier Sport: “To be in the same room with sporting legends like [American Olympic swimming champion] Michael Phelps was cool.

“It was good to remember the success of both GB teams at the Olympics and Paralympics.”

After Rio, Lyle returned to East Lothian to a hero’s welcome, as hundreds of locals turned up at Dunbar’s Hallhill Sports Centre to welcome her home.

She moved to Oaklands College in St Albans a week later and the former Dunbar Grammar School pupil is really enjoying the chance to train more.

“I’m training with one of the top sprint coaches in the country and surrounded by able-bodied GB juniors as my training partners,” Lyle said.

“It was a hard decision to move away from my friends and family but it is definitely the best decision I have made.

“The college work is alright, I’m studying sport and exercise science.”

Lyle, who has returned home to Dunbar to spend Christmas with her family, reflected on her year.She added: “I’m really enjoying myself just now.”

“It’s nice to be home for a bit of a break before I go back down south to prepare for my first competition of the 2017 season in Dubai.”