Olympic hopes for accountants and top athlete
Swindon accountants Morris Owen has teamed up with triathlete Emma-Kate Lidbury in a partnership which is hoped will bring Olympic success.
The chartered accountants, tax and financial advisers firm, from Devizes Road, in Swindon, has pledged support to 27-year-old Emma-Kate, a former Advertiser reporter who is now focusing on the sport of swimming, cycling and running.
Emma-Kate, who is from Cricklade, sees a medal at the London Olympics in 2012 as her ultimate goal, and says the sponsorship deal with Morris Owen is the first step in enabling her to achieve this.
She said: "I'm delighted to have secured this sponsorship from Morris Owen.
"I'm hugely grateful to them for backing me and I'm sure it will prove to be a beneficial partnership for us all.
"Triathlon is a rapidly expanding sport and is one of the fastest growing sports in the UK so more and more businesses are keen to become associated with it.
"Thanks to the support of Morris Owen I will now be able to train, race and recover in a way that should really yield some top results.
"Balancing a full-time career with high volumes of physical training had previously really limited my potential as a triathlete."
This isn't the first time Morris Owen has become involved with local athletes.
It also supports speedway star Leigh Adams and actively seeks to forge links in the community, sponsoring charities and organisations in the Swindon area.
Morris Owen partner Rob Beale said: "While 2012 seems a long time in the future, Emma-Kate is determined to work towards her goal and we are proud to play a part in helping her achieve it."
Emma-Kate made the decision to focus more seriously on triathlon after winning a bronze medal at the World Triathlon Championships in Hamburg, Germany, last September.
She finished the season ranked among the world's top 10 female amateur triathletes and decided to escape the British winter to train in Noosa, Australia, from October until Christmas.
She said: "I was able to train full-time in Australia in glorious sunshine and was training alongside some of the sport's most famous professionals, so I had a great insight into what it takes to make it at the very top of the sport."
She currently races Olympic distance triathlons, which involve a 1,500-metre swim, a 40-kilometre bike ride and a 10-kilometre run.
Her best time for this distance is just over two hours, but she will soon be looking to compete in Half Ironman races - a 1.9-kilometre swim, an 80-kilometre bike ride and a 21-kilometre run.
She trains between 15 and 20 hours a week, swimming 12-15-kilometrein the pool, clocking up 120-150 miles on the bike and running about 30 miles, as well as carrying out weights' sessions in the gym.
Any other businesses keen to find out about sponsorship opportunities with Emma-Kate can email her at eklidbury@hotmail.com.
This article originally appeared in the Swindon Advertiser on the 13 February 2008 and the March 2008 edition of Wiltshire Business
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