A Rising Star with Rio in her Sights

27 Aug 2012

MacLellan Rubber are always looking to help develop new talent and not always in our industry. When we were asked to sponspor young swimmer Gemma Lee-Ross, we new nothing about open water swimming, except that it looked demanding and cold.

Highly talented Gemma has ambitions to compete at the Olympics in 2016 as she continues her rapid rise in the rankings of open water swimming, and is looking to follow in the footsteps of Keri-Anne Payne and fly the flag in Rio in four years time.

As a regular member of the Farnham Sharks senior squad, Gemma is the fastest open water swimmer in the South-East and is currently ranked ninth in the UK for her age.

This year Gemma won the 1,500m Regional Open Water Championships not only for her age group, but also in the Junior and Open sections too. From this she represented the region in the National Championships where she finished an impressive ninth, depsite being one of the youngest in the field, much to the delight of her coach Marilyn Flook and sponsors.

Despite her young age Gemma trains for over 15 hours each week in the pool covering up to 50 kilometres, as well as spending time in the gym and trying to keep up with her studies.

MacLellan Rubber are proud to be able to support Gemma in her quest for gold and look forward to reporting on her successes in the future.