Sporty Emma Morris will try her hand at any sport and her latest success is second place in a triathlon - a gruelling test for any athlete.

The eight-year-old is a jack-of-all-trades and seemingly master of them all. Emma is a keen swimmer - recently winning a trophy at a club gala - while she also cycles regularly and plays hockey and football.

But the mini-triathlon, held in Appleby, Cumbria, a scaled down version of the senior version, is Emma's biggest achievement so far; in her first competition in the event she finished second in her age group - a great success considering she only decided to enter two weeks previously. Ever willing to have a go at a new sport, after watching European Triathlon Championships on television Emma, of Richmond, asked her parents if she could enter a triathlon. Some enquiries followed and a fortnight later Emma had collected a silver medal at the Appleby Mini-Triathlon.

"She'd seen the triathlon on television and told us she wanted to take part in one," explained proud mother, Carol. "I was very surprised with her, it looks like quite a lot hard work to me!

"Because it was such late notice there was no preparation or training involved, it was just a case of showing up and seeing how it went.

"Her view was to give it a go and if she enjoyed it she would look for another one. That's her view on lots of sports really, she's always keen to try something new and then move on to something else new."

Carol says Emma was simply happy to be involved and wasn't looking for a top-three spot, but ended up taking the race by storm.

Carol said: "She came out of the pool in first position and got off the bike still in front but was overtaken on the running section.

"But she hadn't been thinking about winning, she was only thinking about competing."

The mini-triathlon consisted of a 50 metre swim followed by 1250 metres on a bike and finished with a 400m run. Emma was the youngest in the year eight age category at an event in which participants aged up to 16 were competing.

Her sporting prowess doesn't end there. Since winning a silver medal in the triathlon Emma picked up a trophy in her swimming club's annual gala; she won the 25 metre butterfly at the Richmond & Dales gala but must wait until next year before being allowed to represent the club competitively.

At under-9 level, Emma, whom her mother admits is something of a tomboy, also plays football for Richmond Town. The age group allows Richmond to field a mixed team of boys and girls, however, Emma is the only girl but despite this she isn't perturbed and continues to earn a place in the team.

Emma's parents are now thinking about letting their daughter join a running club to capitalise on Emma's burgeoning talent.