THE beautiful Oddicombe Beach, Torquay, was the location for this year's Devon Open Water Competition at which Emily Attfield and Kieran Rookes from Tavistock Swimming Club took part.

On a very cloudy afternoon, which turned into a wet evening – not that the swimmers noticed the weather — Emily, aged 14, and Kieran, 16, competed in the junior competition (ages 12 to 16), swimming one loop of Oddicombe Bay for a distance of about 1.5 kilometres.

A total of 18 swimmers competed in the junior sections, in which all the swimmers start together just offshore, swimming out to sea and then some distance offshore across the bay before returning to the beach, ensuring they pass marker buoys on the correct side. Kieran was the first Tavistock swimmer home in a fine boys second place, in a time of 20 minutes and 19 seconds.

Emily matched Kieran's second place, being the second girl to finish, with a time of 21mins 54secs.

Tavistock Swimming Club congratulated Emily and Kieran for their excellent swims.

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