CONGRATULATIONS - Amelia Rodd

On Saturday 19th June Ellesmere Titans and Redditch Swimming club swimmer Amelia Rodd lined up with the best young marathon swimmers from across the country to compete for a place to represent GB at the European Junior Open Water Championships to be held in in Paris on  22-25 July.

Having had 18 months affected by injury and coronavirus lockdowns her training has been significantly hampered in a year she was dedicating to swimming.

The race was held at Llandegfedd Reservoir near Pontypool over a distance of 7.5km. Swimming without wetsuits in a cold reservoir the race was split in to waves setting the boys off first then followed by the girls. The conditions were harsh with a number of swimmers having to withdraw due to the extreme temperature of the water. The girls race quickly unfolded with 6 girls forming a break away pack through the first 1.5km lap, this reduced to 4 with Rodd positioned comfortably behind the lead 2. On a few occasions she hit the front to up the pace and then returned to sit in behind the lead girls. This pattern remained with Rodd swimming a very tactically aware race and Rodd took control at 7km with an injection of speed that left 3 other girls behind to comfortably win the event in a time of 1hour 35 mins.

Due to the covid virus this was Rodd’s 1^st open water race since last representing GB at the Junior European Championships in Prague in 2019 where she finished 18^th. Winning the qualification event means she will swim in Paris over the 10km distance and hopes to improve on her last outing for GB.

After the race she said “It is great to be racing and competing again in open water events, I have another 4 weeks of hard training now before flying off to Paris, which I am really excited about”.