By John Connell

Published at 10:51, Saturday, 14 July 2012

The family of an Olympic hopeful will be cheering him on from their homes in Cumbria.

Daniel Awde

Daniel Awde, 24, has family in Hethersgill, Wetheral and Longtown who say they will be rooting for him “every step of the way”.

Daniel, the only Brit competing in the gruelling event, has represented his country in the Beijing Olympics and will do so again in London 2012.

Proud grandmother Sylvia Dalgleish, 74, of Hethersgill, contacted the News & Star because she felt decathletes were not always given the recognition that they deserved.

She said: “We are extremely proud and will be supporting him every step of the way.

“We stayed up all night when he competed in Beijing.

“He has been the UK decathlete for the last four years but the event never seems to get the coverage that the others get.

“He has another grandmother who lives in Longtown and two aunties, my daughters, who live in Hethersgill and another aunt at Wetheral.

Daniel’s aunties, Tania Johnston and Terri Graham are well-known figures in equestrianism, competing in dressage.

Tania has recently qualified for the elementary and novice in the regional finals in dressage at Rowallen, and Terri has won through to the advanced medium at Someford Park.

Daniel, who lives in Woodford, Essex, said all the support meant a lot to him.

He said: “I often come up to Cumbria to visit them.

“I love the scenery. When you come off the M6 and you are driving through the country it’s wonderful.”

His three favourite events in the decathlon are the long jump, the pole vault and the 400 metres.

“You know the crowd are going to be going crazy.

“The stadium is going to be packed and when you get them clapping and cheering and making noise I love that.”

Daniel has been training, on average, for about five hours a day.

A medal would be a dream come true but he is facing some very tough competition.

He said: “A medal would be very difficult at that level. There are some very strong guys. An American [Ashton Eaton] has recently broken the overall record which had been standing for 10 years.”

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk