There have been times this year Ryker Bitz and Ellamae Tisbe have had to battle winds and colder than usual water as they train for the 2019 School Sport Swimming Championships held in Melbourne this month.
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We may be living in the Top End, but the plummeting temperatures recorded in the recent cold snap have made for some chilly swimming conditions.
The practice, however, will stand them in good stead as they compete against the best swimmers from around Australia in the middle of Melbourne's record breaking winter.
Ellamae, has even taken it a step further, braving the cold mornings without a jumper.
She says she doesn't want a shock when she arrives in Melbourne for her first ever swimming competition.
A year shy of making it to the Arafura Games in Darwin earlier this year, she watched as her older sister swam some of her best laps.
Spurred on by the thrill of the competition, Ellamae and Ryker have kept up a strict training regime four times per week.
They start off with sprints to warm up and spend more than an hour in the pool each session.
"I want to represent Australia, eventually," 11 year-old Ryker said.
"But right now I don't want to be the top swimmer, I just want to show I am good enough to represent the NT."
The pair, along with Kaiarose Tisbe and Eugene Bolten, will be representing the NT in the long standing school sport competition.
Flying past the benchmark selection time at the NT Championships, the young athletes were just a few of about 12 Katherine swimmers to make the required time.
Katherine swimming club head coach Pru Ducey said the Melbourne competition is a stepping stone to bigger competitions regardless of their outcome.
"It is a great experience to be a part of an NT team and travel away, compete and participate in a high level competition," she said.
"The Parap pool (in Darwin) is the international standard, but the Melbourne pool is a much bigger facility."
She said the competition provides the opportunity to meet and compete against other swimmers.
"It will be great practice for other competitions like the Arafura Games," Mrs Ducey said.
"They are desperate to go."
Held at the Melbourne Sport and Aquatic Centre, the swimmers will be swimming in a heated pool which is partially open to the elements.
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