Sailing: Olympic funding delay for Chris Grube

Mar 10 2011 by Dave Powell, Chester Chronicle

With just over 500 days to go until the start of the Olympic Games in London, our latest special feature focuses on a sailor who is desperately trying to raise funds to keep his 2012 dream alive. DAVE POWELL reports...

CHESTER sailing star Chris Grube is hoping a delay of funding won’t hinder his chances of making his Olympic bow in London next year.

After seeing his funding put on hold from the Royal Yachting Association, Chris, 26, and his sailing partner, two-time Olympic medallist Nick Rogers, have been forced to fund their own way to competitions around the globe as they attempt to qualify for sport’s biggest showcase event.

But Chris, of Mickle Trafford, is hopeful that following a recent successful trip to New Zealand, where the pair won the National Sailing Championships and Sail Auckland events, the necessary financial help will be forthcoming.

“It has been a difficult time but we have been trying to get by as best we can,” said the former Upton High School pupil.

“Since our funding was held up we have been actively seeking funding from sponsors but we have had to rely on our own money to get us to and from events.

“We can’t continue to fund ourselves for much longer but we are confident that we can get something sorted soon.”

Chris is hoping that he and Nick can qualify for funding in the near future given Nick’s Olympic silver medals at Athens and Beijing and the fact the duo are being coached by former Olympic gold medallist Nathan Wilmot.

“We are pretty confident of securing funding as we have put together a really competitive team,” said Chris, who competes in the men’s 470 class.

“We want to move forward with this as soon as possible so we give ourselves the best chance of achieving success in London.

“Nick is a double Olympic medal winner while Nathan won gold in 2008 at the Beijing games which should mean that we can secure some kind of funding, but probably not as much as we really need.”

Despite the challenges facing the duo, Chris is certain that, given the backing, he too can add a Olympic medal to his collection.

“We have an important month coming up where we have events in Palma and the south of France which will go a long way to helping our case for funding and qualifying for the Olympics,” said Chris.

“We are confident that we can qualify for London and come away with a gold medal. There is no point going into these things and wanting anything less than top spot and we are confident that we have the ability to pull it off. We want to win gold for Great Britain.”

If you are able to assist Chris Grube with funding, you can email him at: chrisgrube470@gmail.com