INTERNATIONAL triathlete Mark Lewarne has received a boost ahead of the 2017 season with the news that he will be sponsored by local company Maen Karne.

Lewarne, who is looking ahead to the European Aquathlon Championships in Slovakia at the end of the month has paid tribute to the help he has received from the local aggregate company.

"It's fantastic to have the support of one of Cornwall top businesses. Maen Karne have proved themselves as one as the best companies to work with and their customer service is second to none, I look forward to a positive working partnership with them."

Penryn College teacher Lewarne is hoping to bounce back after a disappointing 2016 campaign. He suffered a fall on the bike at the European Championships in Lisbon, which knocked him back a dozen places after being up within the top five athletes in the race.

"I took a heavy fall at last year's Europeans which knocked me for six, I wasn't able to recover from that and effectively put me out of the race."

With the aquathlon in the Slovakian capital Bratislava being a swim-run event, there will hopefully be no slip-ups.

"I have recently returned from a two-week training camp in Cyprus with a few top British athletes. I concentrated on the swim-run over there, we were based pretty close to a 50m Olympic pool and that made a massive difference. I just need to work hard for this next three weeks and be in decent shape come the Europeans at the end of the month."