Dinnaton Swimming Club swimmer Aegean Bramley recently won the Devon Junior Female Open Water title at Oddicombe Beach, Torquay.
The Amateur Swimming Association open-water events that Aegean competes in are all swum without a wetsuit and in the changeable conditions of the venues.
Aegean, 14, attends Ivybridge Community College, trains with Dinnaton SC, near Ivybridge, and undertakes open-water training with Plymouth Triathlon Club.
Aegean has gone from strength to strength under the guidance of head coach Matthew Henry since competing at the ASA South West Open Water Championships at Weymouth in June.
Aegean won silver in the girls’ 15-year-old category in the choppy waters of Weymouth Bay, behind Millie Roberts of Newquay Cormorants SC. In doing so, the ICC student gained qualification for the ASA National Open Water Championships in Sheffield, which was held a little over a month later.
Over the 3km distance, made up by three 1km loops in Rother Valley Country Park, Aegean found herself moving up through the field on each of the laps, showing a measured and tactical approach to the race.
Moving up from 20th after lap one, Aegean was to finish 15th in one of the largest and most competitive fields of the day. In addition to this, she was the best of the south west girls, finishing ahead of Millie Roberts.
It was in the week following the nationals that Aegean won Dinnaton SC’s first Junior Girls Open Water title. Despite competing against girls up to the age of 16 over the distance of 1.5km, Aegean distanced herself from the rest of her rivals to win by over a minute.
In fact, Exeter City’s Charlie Kendal, the winner of the Junior Male title, only just beat her to the finishing buoy.
Aegean said: ‘Despite the jellyfish I really enjoyed the competition at Oddicombe as the sea was much warmer than at the regionals at Weymouth in June.’
Aegean hopes to capitalise on her string of distance-swimming successes over the next year. Her main focus during the winter months will be on the shorter, 800m distance event for female athletes in the swimming pool before the open-water season begins next summer.