Sponsors backing news reporter Emma-Kate Lidbury as she tackled the gruelling World Triathlon Championships have expressed their delight at her top ten finish.

Miss Lidbury, 26, who works for Newsquest Oxfordshire, represented Great Britain at the championships in Lausanne, Switzerland on September 2 and was delighted to finish eighth in the women's 25-29 age group in a time of two hours, 28 minutes and 15 seconds.

She was supported by Oxford-based commercial property firm Savills (sponsors of In Business magazine), Bicester finance firm Chase Financial Services, telecommunications companies STL Communications and Intellion of Witney and Newsquest Oxfordshire, the publisher of The Oxford Times.

Derek Holmes, editor of The Oxford Times, said: "Emma-Kate's achievement is fantastic, bearing in mind she has a busy career and is relatively new to the sport. I am sure she will rise to even greater heights in the near future."

Helen Hutt of Savills said: "What a fantastic result! Considering how recently she started competing, Emma-Kate did brilliantly well to take eighth place. We are delighted and proud to be associated with someone who has such a positive approach and wish her even greater success in future events."

Sponsors and readers were able to follow Miss Lidbury's progress through her own personal blog published on the Oxford Mail website, sister publication of The Oxford Times.

Susannah Maxa, managing director of Intellion, said: "We circulated the address of Emma-Kate's blog and the staff followed her all the way. We were all absolutely thrilled with her result. It was a superb effort and great for British sport."

Dave Marler, managing director of Chase Financial Services, added: "We are very pleased to support someone representing the local community. Well done, Emma-Kate."

And Brendon Cross, managing director of STL Communications, said: "We are delighted with Emma-Kate's success and are confident she will go from strength to strength next season."

Miss Lidbury finished the third fastest British competitor in her age group and was two minutes off bronze, in the event that features a gruelling 1500m swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run.

She was in second position at the end of the bike ride, but a five-week-old foot injury held her back in the run. She said: "When I took up triathlon 16 months ago, if someone had told me I'd have finished eighth at the World Championships this year I would have laughed at them.

"I had a brilliant World Championships and it wouldn't have been possible without the generous support of my sponsors.

"Not only did they help me fund the trip, but even more importantly their backing meant I could prepare for the race in the most professional way possible."

"I will be taking a break from training, but will have plenty to train for over the winter ahead of next season when I'll be aiming higher. It would be great to hear from anyone wanting to get involved in sponsorship for 2007."