BENFLEET’S Matt Hamilton completed the trip of a lifetime by winning a gold medal at the Brazil Paralympic School Games.

The King John School sixth-former, 17, was part of the Great Britain squad that competed in the Games in Sao Paolo as part of the Olympic legacy.

With Rio hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in 2016, following on from London’s success in 2012, the two countries have forged a bond.

The Brazilian paralympic team came to Britain in the summer to compete and, in return, a team of potential future British paralympians were invited to take part in Brazil’s school games.

And Hamilton made the most of that opportunity to storm to a gold medal in the 400m, finishing in a time of 54.89s which was fractions of a second outside his personal best.

“I was pleased with that given I only had four weeks notice that I would be going,” laughed Hamilton who suffers from a condition called Erbs Palsy which leaves him with little strength in his right arm.

“I didn’t have much time to prepare so I had to scramble a bit of speed training into my programme a couple of weeks before I flew out there.

“So to win a gold medal and to finish just outside my personal best was pretty pleasing considering all of that.”

Hamilton said the whole experience of competing in Brazil was one he won’t forget.

“It was really nice but it was a bit eye-opening seeing the effect poverty has out there. You could be walking down a street and see a really nice, designer shop and then right next to it is a shack with windows broken in and people living in there.”

One thing that Hamilton certainly did appreciate, however, was the Brazilian climate.

“It was a relief to be running in those conditions,” he said. “Since the winter has come, training in England has been tough for me because of my asthma.

“I have struggled with my breathing so it felt great to be running and breathing properly out there.”