A FORMER Cirencester Deer Park School pupil will be competing for Team GB at a sled dog racing world championship.

Postwoman Ems Hammersley, 37, who lives near Cirencester, will be travelling to Poland for the International Federation of Sleddog Sports World Dryland Championships.

Ems has been racing her Siberian Huskies for the past 10 years and has been placed sixth in her class in the European Championships 2016.

She has also been ranked 15th in the world.

Having qualified for the GB Team from the British Championships last season, she has been selected to represent Great Britain once again.

The race is being staged near Warsaw this year and will see some of the leading teams from across the world attend the event, competing in different classes for the title of World Champion and Ems is hoping to be one of them.

Ems keeps nine sled dogs and selects six from her kennel to run on her team in the DR6 Nordic Breed Sprint Classification.

The teams will set off at one-minute intervals and race against the clock over a 7.5km off-road trail with heats over two days.

Each day’s times are then combined to determine the winning team who will be crowned World Champion.

Using a custom built four-wheeled light weight racing rig, her team will be led by her two lead dogs Kapik, 9, and Squeek ,3, a mother and daughter duo who have led her team over the past two years.

Both dogs are pure bred Siberian Huskies, bred by Ems and her husband Matt for their racing teams.

They will be accompanied by Squeek’s three sisters and one other to be selected as training progresses.

Ems and Matt spend 3 to 4 evenings a week travelling to the Forest of Dean to train their dogs to ensure top levels of fitness.

Although the sport has international recognition and is awaiting Winter Olympic Sport status, the GB Team receives no funding or support and each athlete and their team must support themselves financially.

Ems will have to fund her Championship bid herself, estimated at £2,000 to cover the transport and ferry crossings, vaccinations for the dogs, her team uniform, entry fees and the specialist race food for the dogs.

She is currently looking for sponsorship and support from local businesses and donations.

To support Ems, go to Pledgesports.org and search for 'Tanglefoot'.

For more information about Ems and her team, go to: tanglefoot-sleddogs.com