Top Kiwi teen swimmer heads for open water

November 27, 2012
PRESS RELEASE

Top Kiwi teen swimmer heads for open water

Fourteen-year-old Auckland swimmer Paige Schendelaar-Kemp is finishing the year with a splash having been selected to represent New Zealand at the New South Wales Open Water Championships in Sydney next month.

The selection is Paige’s first time in a national swimming team and tops off a fantastic year for the young athlete, having broken Counties Manukau age group records in the 50m and 100m butterfly at the New Zealand Open in March. She also won bronze in the 100m butterfly at the Australian Age Group Champs and took away medals at the State Epic Open Water swim in Taupo and New Zealand Open Water Champs.

In early November Paige, who is sponsored by SKINS compression sportswear, won the 15-years and under female non-wetsuit division of the State Ocean Swim Series in the Bay of Islands, swimming 3.3km from Paihia to Russell. She was placed second overall in the women’s non-wetsuit section.

Paige also holds New Zealand under-13 records in short course and long course butterfly and freestyle – and she was recently named Pakuranga College’s Junior Sportsperson of the Year. She says being selected in the team for Sydney is a step towards her big dream of representing New Zealand at the Olympics.

“Being chosen for a national team is a really big deal. I’m really excited. All my hard work is paying off. I can’t wait to get into the water in Sydney and compete.”

Paige will compete in the heats for both the 5km and 10km swims at the New South Wales Open Water Championships at Penrith on December 1 and 2. After this, the team will go into a four-day camp run by the Australian and New Zealand Open Water head coaches Greg Towle and Philip Rush.

The camp will have intensive pool and open water training; covering all aspects of open water racing skills and strategies designed to help the swimmers develop their open water swimming to a higher level.

“The camp is an amazing opportunity to really improve technique and be a better open water swimmer,” says Paige.

Paige (pictured below) wears garments from SKINS A400 compression range - a range that has been designed to help athletes of all levels perform better, by delivering more oxygen to the blood and accelerating blood flow to active muscles. For more information visit www.skins.co.nz

Released on behalf of SKINS by Passion PR.

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