Oxford Mail reporter Emma-Kate Lidbury is to represent Great Britain in the Triathlon World Championships in Switzerland later this year, after competing in her first race only 12 months ago.

Emma-Kate swam, cycled and ran her way around Ellesmere in north Shropshire at the first world championship qualifying event, knowing a top-five finish would secure her a place in the Great Britain squad.

And despite having never raced over the Olympic distance before (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run), she finished fourth - in a time of 2hrs 13mins 46secs.

She said: "It was a very tough race, the heat was exhausting and I certainly gave it everything.

"It's just great to have qualified at the first attempt, it makes all the training worthwhile."

Emma (pictured) took up the sport last year when the Oxford Mail sponsored the inaugural Blenheim Triathlon.

She finished 14th out of 500 entrants after only a few hours' training each week, and joined the city's club Oxford Tri after realising she might have a bright future in the sport.

Since then, under the guidance of head coach Mike Dunmore, who coached Oxford triathlete Sophie Whitworth to a bronze medal at last year's World Championships, Emma has gone from strength to strength and finished second at this year's Blenheim event.

The 26-year-old said: "It has been a crazy year, really.

"I knew after last year's Blenheim race that, with a bit of hard work, I could get some excellent results, so I put my head down over the winter and braved all weathers to improve my fitness and get the hours in."

She has been training between 12 and 18 hours a week, fitting in training before, after and sometimes during work as a senior news reporter at the Oxford Mail.

She said: "Balancing training with work is always challenging, but that's part of the test in some ways.

"I took a week off earlier in the year to go on a warm weather training camp with the club in Tenerife and came back flying.

"I'm fitter than I've ever been and am just delighted that come September I'll be competing for my country."

The Triathlon World Championships will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland, in early September.