A LOCAL school girl has set the wheels in motion for what promises to be a successful career in cycling.

Sarah King, from Evedon, was invited to travel to the British Talent Team camp for cyclists as a guest earlier this year.

She was originally a competitive swimmer for five years and then progressed to become a tri-athlete soon after. She is now a very accomplished cyclist.

The 16-year-old Kesteven and Sleaford High School pupil said: "I really enjoyed cycling and used to run quite a bit. I was spotted in January and invited to attend the camp and I had a go on the track at Manchester Velodrome."

The world of British cycling was thrown into the limelight last year after Team GB cleaned up the cycling medals in Beijing and triple gold medal winner Chris Hoy was granted a knighthood.

But it's not the 'flying Scotsman' that Sarah draws her inspiration from.

She said: "It is Nicole Cook and Emma Pauley who I would look to. They are both road racers like myself and are both successful cyclists. I'd like to represent my country one day, especially in Belgium because that's where a lot of the best riders in the world go."

Sarah is a member of the Sleaford Wheelers Cycling Club, joining at the end of 2008.

This weekend sees the young star racing in the youth national race and the women's national race in Blackpool.

At such a young age and switching to the sport fairly recently, her racing credentials are almost unfathomable.

Sarah is in the High School's gifted and talented programme, which is producing a number of talented young athletes. She is on the Lincolnshire Elite Programme and is hoping to join up with the East Midlands Triathlon Academy in September.

Most students will be looking forward to winding down in their summer holidays but for Sarah the schedule is hectic.

She said: "I practice for about 12-14 hours a week, depending on whether I have a race or not. After the cycling season ends I will be getting back into triathlon, so I probably won't get much time off."