DESPITE fears England could be brought to yet another snow standstill one Marlow girl will definitely take the ice in her stride.

After scooping first place in the under 10s at the Scottish Indoor Championships in October, talented skier Georgia Keys, 9, has set her sights on more glory in 2011.

Coming up on the horizon are the English and British Championships and the precocious talent is hoping to add to her growing list of accomplishments.

And the New Year preparations of the Burford School pupil have received a welcome boost after a British skiing academy based in Austria invited her to train.

Due to school commitments Georgia would only be able to train for about a week but the rare prospect of practising in real snow is certainly exciting.

“I have never trained in Austria before and I would like to do more snow races,” said Georgia, who races for the Wycombe Phoenix race team.

Although Georgia admits she is “very proud” of herself she still remains refreshingly humble.

Dad Stephen, 45, said: “She’s really modest, I don’t think she realises how significant it is.

“When she became the Scottish champion her reaction was more like ‘so what?’!”

Sports-mad Georgia has also been selected for the government-backed Gifted and Talented programme.

It gives the netball fan special dispensation to take time off school and take part in the ski season’s big competitions.

Yet – despite welcome this fillip – supporting a starlet skier has proved a financial challenge for Georgia’s family.

“We are just normal run of the mill parents whose daughter has picked up a sport and just so happens to be good at it,” said Mr Keys.

“It’s a back against the wall type of sport as everything is privately funded - if we were multi millionaires there would not be a problem.”

To find out more about Georgia’s exploits or providing financial support log on to www.georgiakeys.co.uk