Falkirk athlete Grant Plenderleith is on track to make it as a future Olympian thanks to a new sponsorship deal with Link Group Ltd.

Grant is a successful athlete who competes for Falkirk Victoria Harriers and the City of Sheffield Athletics Club. He is currently ranked 2nd in the 200m and the 400m in Scotland and was part of Team Scotland at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. Grant also recently won Falkirk & District Council Sportsperson of the year award.

Link’s sponsorship will allow Grant to fund his warm weather training for the rest of the year. This training is vital to help Grant reach his future potential. As a senior athlete, he is one of only a few hopeful athletes from Falkirk who have an opportunity to compete at major competitions, so the sponsorship aims to help his athletics dream become a reality.

Grant said: “I would like to thank Link Group Ltd for their support. This will allow me to attend more training camps abroad prior to competitions and it will also allow me to compete at events across Europe where both the competition and conditions are greater. This will allow me to progress as an athlete, which ultimately will help me achieve my goals.”

Link has been involved in sponsoring community sporting initiatives in the Falkirk area for a number of years, the most recent being The Tryst Community Sports Club (TCSC) - an outstanding example of sports provision in Scotland.

Craig Sanderson, Link Group chief executive, added: “We are very proud to be supporting Grant on his quest to qualify for the next Olympics. We believe Grant is an outstanding example to other young people in the Falkirk area and we wish him all the best on the road to Rio. Grant lives and works in Polmont (where Link built its very first homes in 1965) - and his aunt’s a tenant of ours in Maddiston.”

You can follow Grant’s progress on his Twitter account @grant1503.