EVERY sportsman and woman knows that the road to success is a long and hard one.

But for talented ice skater Elise Scholes the road to success is 220 miles long.

For Elise packs her bags and travels from her home in Kilmarnock, Scotland, 220 miles south to a caravan park at Eastby near Skipton and Bradford Ice Arena.

Elise, 24, is so determined to perfect her skating skills that she makes the four and a half hour journey from north of the border every week with her mum Jeanette Scholes to be taught by Bradford Ice Rink's master coach Uri Brekhov.

But although they may be many miles from Kilmarnock, Elise and her mum do not miss the home comforts of Scotland at the static caravan where they live during their four-day stays in the Dales.

Elise, who teaches youngsters at an ice rink in Paisley in Scotland at the weekend, said: "What we usually do is travel down on a Tuesday and train with Uri on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and go home on Friday so that I can teach on Saturday.

"It's very tiring but I'm used to it. The worst thing is the travelling. It's a very long journey and it can really take it out of you, especially when you've got to train at the end of it, but it's worth it in the end.

"Living in the caravan is fine. It can be a problem in winter when it's cold. We have to be careful because when it's really cold the water freezes.

"But I'm used to caravanning holidays so I'm used to it. We've got all the mod-cons so it's like home from home.

"My main aim is to learn how to do the triple jumps - that's why I come to Bradford.

"There aren't that many Russian coaches in Britain and their teaching methods are far better than any teaching methods that we have in Scotland.

"When I first came to Uri he completely rebuilt my technique from scratch. Now I can do things that I couldn't do at all before."

Her mum Jeanette, who stays with her daughter at the caravan and watches her train every day, said: "It can be difficult and tiring for Elise, especially when she's got training early in the morning, but I think it's worth it in the end.

"We quite enjoy it down here, you've got better shops here and there's some lovely countryside near Skipton.

"Luckily I have a very understanding husband who puts up with us both and lets us come down here every week!"

Coach Uri Brekhov, 39, of Shipley, a former Ukrainian National ice skating champion, was invited to teach in Bradford in 1996 and has been coaching Elise for more than two years.

He said: "She's a lovely person and she's very talented. When she first came to me she had faults in her technique but she's very dedicated and she's improved a lot.

"I think she can go on to be one of the best skaters in not only Scotland but Britain."

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