TWO rising stars of ice skating, who train in Blackburn, are set to take on the world at their first international competition next month.

Emily Brown, 13, and Lily Matthias, 10, have been selected by the National Ice Skating Association to represent Great Britain at the Spotland Trophy in Budapest, Hungary.

The girls, who have been training at Blackburn Ice Arena for around four years, dedicate 20 hours of work over six days a week to training and preparation for their competitions.

Lily, who has recently quit school to focus full time on her training, will be joined at the competition by Emily from Penwortham.

Emily is the current British solo dance champion and has been a silver medallist in British singles free skating championships.

She is also currently on British development squad for both disciplines.

Lily, from Lytham St Annes, is also on the British development squad but was unable to compete at the British championships as, despite being of a high enough level, she was too young.

Both coached by Keith and Kathryn Hudson at the Blackburn sports venue, the youngsters will be hoping to skate their way to success on their first international outing.

Kathryn said: “I’m really proud of what they have achieved so far and they are both so young.

“They each have great potential and the sky really is the limit for them.

“They are right at the very top of their age groups and both of them are exactly where they need to be at for their ages.”