Upton Hall triathlon starlet Emily Murphy has been fast-tracked as a future British Olympian after being handpicked to join the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes initiative.

May 20 2009 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

Upton Hall triathlon starlet Emily Murphy has been fast-tracked as a future British Olympian after being handpicked to join the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes initiative.

UPTON HALL triathlon starlet Emily Murphy has been fast-tracked as a future British Olympian after being handpicked to join the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes initiative.

The 17-year-old – who attends St Joseph’s School in Birkenhead – will receive a cash injection of £1,000 to help with the cost of training and competing after being one of only 250 youngsters selected from across the UK.

Murphy also attended the Loughborough launch of the initiative where she received masterclasses with British Olympians Debbie Flood, Ashia Hansen and Katharine Merry on food, nutrition, media and training.

And Murphy insists rubbing shoulders with the likes of Beijing silver medallist Flood is all the inspiration she needs to continue her path to the Olympics.

“I was just really happy when I found out I had been selected,” said Murphy. “I felt really great and it was really good to be recognised in the triathlon because it showed me that someone has been watching my performances and believes that I have the ability to progress.”

And the Mersey Triathlon club star is planning to use her funding to aid her preparations for this summer’s British Youth and Junior Championships which take place in Hyde Park, London in August.

She added: “The funding is really great for me because I have to do quite a lot of travelling around the country for all the different competitions and those competitions are expensive to enter.

“The regional squad for the triathlon was cut a while back so any funding I can get is really important.”

Murphy caught the eye of double Olympic rowing silver medallist Flood in Loughborough.

And the double world champion, who spent individual tuition time with each of the 46 Local Heroes attending, is backing Murphy to hog the headlines in 2009.ŠŠ

“It has been a real privilege to come and meet some of these youngsters,” said Flood. “I know there’s going to be a handful which will go on and represent Great Britain at an Olympic Games, whether that is at London 2012 or in 2016.

“Meeting like-minded athletes from a variety of sports and hopefully tapping into the knowledge and experience of former Olympians can only benefit them in the years to come.”

Lloyds TSB is providing £1,000 to over 250 emerging young sportspeople identified each year across Britain, in the run up to London 2012 and beyond. Visit Lloydstsb.com/Localheroes