SOUTH Tawton shooter Georgina 'Gorgs' Geikie was rewarded for a successful season with a day in the company of Olympic champion Jonathan Edwards and European and Commonwealth gold medallist Andy Turner at London's Olympic Park recently.

The 25-year-old, who trains at Okehampton Smallbore Club, brought the curtain down in style on her season by claiming pistol pairs bronze at October's Commonwealth Games.

Gorgs' progress paid dividends when she was picked out to receive expert advice from triple jump world record holder Edwards and 110m hurdler Turner at the site of the 2012 London Games, as part of the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes scheme.

And after seeing the facilities of the Olympic Stadium, Gorgs admitted she was hungrier than ever to realise her own Games ambitions.

She said: 'It was great to be at the site of the 2012 Olympics and to look round and see everything taking shape and think how exciting it would be to be a part of it.

'Someone like Jonathan has been there and done it so it was good to listen to what he had to say and I would just love to get to the Olympics myself.

'I was so proud of my Commonwealth Games medal and this year has been really challenging but I feel I am on the right path now.

'Everyone has highs and lows with their training but I have learnt a lot this year and I am in good shape now and I feel a lot stronger.

Gorgs said shooting was a 'completely psychological' sport, five per cent technique and 95 per cent psychology at the very top level.

'I think I have a much stronger mental approach now and I am in a position where I am always confident of achieving on the day,' she said.

Gorgs was recruited to the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes scheme this year and given a cash-injection of £1,000 to help with the costs of training and competing.

After being surprisingly dropped from the list of funded athletes by British Shooting following her Delhi exploits, Georgina admits the bank's backing is more crucial than ever.

She said: 'Having a little bit of help from the Lloyds TSB Local Heroes scheme will help me — a World Cup competition costs more than £1,000 so it is going to be very challenging to get to them, but that is what I want to do.

'It is all leading up towards going to the major matches and hopefully that will put me in a position to be chosen to go to the Olympics.'

Lloyds TSB Local Heroes is an initiative in partnership with SportsAid providing support and funding to more than 270 of Britain's most talented developing athletes on their journey to London 2012 and beyond.To find out more about Lloyds TSB Local Heroes visit http://www.lloydstsb.com/localheroes">www.lloydstsb.com/localheroes