LAKE CHARLES – Former McNeese Cowgirl track standout Gemma Bridge is making a name of herself in her native land of England in one of the most disciplined sports to compete – race walking.
 
Since graduating from McNeese with honors in the spring of 2016 with a master's degree, Bridge, the Southland Conference silver medalist in the 10,000-meters at the '16 league outdoor championships; a sixth place finish at the 2015 SLC cross country meet; and earning All-Region honors after a 23^rd place finish at the NCAA South Central XC Regional that same year; has shifted gears from a running career to become one of the top up-and-coming race walkers in England.
 
After her McNeese career, Bridge began focusing on walking and moved to Leeds, a city in the northern English county of Yorkshire. That is where she started training at the National Race Walk center headed by Andi Drake.
 
Her career has taken off in a short amount of time.
 
During the indoor season, Bridge became the British 3k race walk champion with a mark of 13:23.59. She followed that with a second place finish for the England team at the Bratislava meet.
 
She became the England 10k champion on March 5 with a time of 47:07 and posted the fastest 20-kilometer debut time ever in British history at 1:37:35. Three weeks later, she shaved more than two minutes off her time to post a second place mark of 1:35.03 and qualifying her for the IAAF World Championships in London Aug. 4-13 as well as the Commonwealth Games in 2018 to be held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia April 4-15.
 
Bridge was selected to race for Great Britain at the 2017 European Race Walking Cup in May where she finished 14^th with a personal best time in the 20k race at 1:34.24.
 
While she continues to train and compete in the race walk event, Bridge has enrolled at Leeds Beckett University and is pursuing a PhD.