SERITA Shone and team-mate Sian Huxtable will take their place on the start line at next week’s British Championships after finding the funds to compete in Austria.

Weymouth bobsleigh driver Shone, pictured, flew out to Igls yesterday with brakeman Huxtable to prepare for the women’s two-person event in seven days’ time.

The duo hadn’t quite managed to meet their original fundraising target but they collected enough money to give themselves a fighting chance.

Shone knows the equipment they have won’t be up to the standard of others, however, she is ready to give it her best shot.

“I want to do the best I can,” she said. “I would like to medal but I don’t want to put any extra pressure on myself.

“I’m as strong as ever so hopefully that will come into play.

“We have to accept that the equipment we’ve got won’t be up to the same standard as some of the other competitors.

“It’s equipment that wins races at the end of the day so we have to make sure we prepare as well as we can.

“Hopefully we won’t be at too much of a disadvantage but it may affect our results.”

The championships, which run from Monday through to next Saturday, are the second event for Shone as a driver.

Her first was at the 2013 British Championships where, after making a remarkable recovery from a crash in October 2011, she claimed an emotional bronze medal.

Last year, she went into the championships thinking about how she would fare following her horror smash 17 months earlier – she had made the switch from brakeman to driver after that fateful training run in Germany.

But this time, Shone can compete with a very different mindset, though it hasn’t been easy getting there.

She added: “We’ve managed to get enough money together but it has been stressful with all my other commitments.

“It wasn’t particularly enjoyable at times but we managed to get enough to get by.

“This time I can really concentrate on being the best I can, rather than just getting over the fear factor, which is what I had to do last year after the crash.”

The winner of the women’s two-person event will be the crew that has the best combined time over two runs.