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Nine-year-old swimming sensation Digby Rushton will be representing the kingdom in an Open Water Competition in Dubai this weekend.
The St Christopher’s School pupil from Saar will be competing in the Dubai Zoggs Mina Mile as part of the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel & Spa swimming team. Digby has been swimming at the Ritz at least twice a week since he was five-years-old, averaging two kilometers per training session. He is also part of his school’s swimming team.
He is the youngest member on the hotel team and will be challenging junior swimmers in the Under-12 200m and 400m open water race series. Digby said: "I am nervous yet excited about taking part this weekend. I’ll be giving it my best shot and to make me go faster I have decided to imagine a shark is chasing me!
"I love to swim and my coach Alfeo has become a great friend and encourages me all the way. Freestyle is my favourite stroke followed by butterfly."
His mother, Julia, and father, Peter, both marketing and communications executives, will be cheering their son on from the beach in what proves to be a first-time feat for Digby and a nerve-racking moment for his parents.
Julia said: "Digby has been training hard over the past month by swimming in the lagoon at the Ritz in a wet suit. Even though we live on an island with warm weather eight months of the year, sadly the opportunities to compete in swimming competitions are few and far between in Bahrain.
"It’s important to keep children motivated and taking part in competitions gives them something to work towards."
