AN Abergavenny beauty is bidding to become Miss Intercontinental Great Britain 2008.

King Henry the Eighth sixth form pupil Zara Mansfield, 18 has already beaten off around 500 others and is in the final 100 girls vying to be voted the best in Wales.

A text voting system that lasts until March will now decide who goes forward to take on the best of England and Scotland.

Miss Mansfield said: 'It's great to have got this far, but I'd love people to vote for me so I can get to the final. I got to the semi finals of Miss Wales last year and got to the final 15 out of 15,000 that entered a national competition set up by Divinity modelling agency.

"But this is the biggest thing I've entered so far."

She lives with mum Helen Mansfield, 40 at Old Barn Way, Abergavenny who entered a young Zara into bonnie baby baby contests.

This laid the foundations for her fledgling career.

She is studying biology, chemistry and history and hopes to study radiography at university, but on the modelling side of things, she would love to emulate her heroine Kelly Brook.

She added: "This year I'm going to try and get into glamour modelling as well as the Miss Intercontinental Great Britain competiton.

"The winner gets to go to the Seychelles later this year for the world competition, so it would be awesome to go there."

The competition is run in conjunction with Children with Leukaemia, a charity dedicated exclusively to fighting Britain's biggest childhood cancer.

All entrants have to raise money for the cause.

  • To vote for Miss Mansfield, text Beauty 0293 to 82085. Texts cost £1.