Moving from the middle of England to Australia when I was a kid, my parents put me straight into nippers at Apollo Bay down in the Otways in Victoria so that I could learn surf safety skills and become more comfortable in the ocean. Here I fell in love with the ocean and surf lifesaving and have continued to do the sport ever since.

When I moved to Sydney a few years ago I was introduced to ocean ski paddling. I entered a few races and loved the competition, the distance and catching runners. Ocean ski paddling has been where I have put the most energy as of lately, as there are a number of big races coming to Australia this year such as the World championships in November. Whilst I am competing a lot in Ocean ski, being able to mix it up with clubbies during summer is awesome and I am always looking forward to racing coming into a clubby event.

In my professional life I am an ecologist by qualification, currently completing my Masters by Research at Macquarie University in North Sydney. My research is focused on Northern Australia where I am developing techniques to ensure for effective inclusion of Indigenous values and aspirations in natural resource management on coastal wetlands. I am aiming to finish my masters at the end of the year and then hope to start my PhD. Juggling my career and sport has been tough over the last few years, but I have found training to be so important in keeping me motivated and on track in other avenues of my life.