The grief-stricken family of a champion body-builder who died suddenly at the weekend have said she was a fantastic mother who loved them immensely.

Mother-of-three Trish Porter (38) died at her home on Sunday after feeling unwell.

Sources have indicated that her sudden death may have been the result of a stroke.

The former Irish strongwoman was one of the most successful female strength athletes in Ireland and Britain.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph yesterday the Porter family said they were still coming to terms with their devastating loss.

“Everyone is shocked at what has happened,” a family member said from their home in Upperlands, Co Londonderry.

“She was very family-orientated, very popular and a hard working girl.

“She was very dedicated to her training and lived for her sport. She was a fantastic mother and was very good to all her children.

“Everyone was so proud of her and her achievements. Her and her husband Phil trained together — the rest of us just watched. They were very committed.”

Trish, who is originally from Wexford, had been living in Upperlands, near Maghera, with her husband and her three children Ryan, Conor and Kelly for the past 14 years. Heartbroken husband Philip, who was also her trainer, said her sudden death had come as a “massive shock”.

“There was absolutely no sign of anything being wrong with Trish physically,” he said.

He also described her as a woman “who had a very large heart”.

“Trish was always | smiling; she was smiling every time I ever saw her,” he said.

“But she was a modest lady... she never believed how good she was.

“She was small in stature but big in heart. And she threw everything she had into every competition she entered.”

Trish won Irish and British powerlifting titles, UK's strongest woman, and was runner-up in the NABBA 2008 Miss Universe.

In March last year she won the Miss Northern Ireland Bodybuilding title. And last October she came second in the prestigious Mr and Mrs Universe body building event in Southport.

Philip Linton, Mrs Porter's trainer and a long-time friend of the family, said: “She was getting ready for another show in five weeks' time and I was giving her help with that.

“I was up at the house last night and her husband Philip said she was feeling great, nothing was wrong. Even leading up to this, she was in tip-top condition and everything was going well.”

He refused to speculate on the cause of Mrs Porter's death and said she was not training any differently from how she had before other competitions.

“She'd been doing a wee bit of everything, every day more or less. She was doing a bit of cardio work as well.”

The funeral Mass will take place today at 1pm in St Luke's Church, Maghera, followed by burial in Polepatrick Cemetery in nearby Magherafelt.

She is survived by her husband, children as well as her parents John and Anna Cullen from New Ross, Wexford.

When she was not training for competition Trish worked as a restaurant manager at the Wild Duck Inn in Portglenone.

She was also well-known at Walsh’s Hotel in Maghera where she previously worked as a manager.