Fifteen year-old Gypsy Waterson came late to running, comparatively, only starting as a 12-year-old.
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But in a short period of time she had competed in her 3000 metre discipline at a state and national level with Athletics NSW and Athletics Australia.
Gypsy, in Year 10 at St Peters Anglican College in Broulee, also competed in cross country representing the school at Southern Anglican Schools Sports Association (SASSA), and reaching national level in cross country representing NSW.
Recently Gypsy applied and was selected to compete at the 2024 Oceania Athletics Championships in Suva, Fiji, in June.
Gypsy loves to run, it's as simple as that.
Her mother, Kate Waterson, said Gypsy had always had a natural affinity for sport, playing a good deal of netball prior to running, and also a love of surfing.
"Gypsy really is just a beautiful, kind person - a really gentle soul," Kate said
"She started running seriously when she was in Year 7 because she wanted to win the school cross country and just keep going and see how far she could get.
"And she got quite far. And that was just on her own accord without a coach."
After a short time with Eurobodalla Little Athletics, the promising young runner found a coach.
Andae Kalemusic, based in Ulladulla, travels to train Gypsy and up to 15 runners at the Hanging Rock Sports complex in Batemans Bay every Monday and Wednesday.
Gypsy said she loved training with Andae.
"Andae was a runner also so she has a lot of experience," Gypsy said.
"One of the girls that I train with is a silver medalist at the youth Commonwealth Games - so she [Andae] has a fair bit of experience.
"She's just been selected as a coach for the junior world athletics championships - she's at quite a high level."
Kate said that sometimes she found it hard to watch Gypsy train so hard, especially not being a runner herself.
Gypsy's schedule was full.
Mondays and Wednesdays she trained with Andae doing hills and reps, while each Tuesday and Thursday was fast endurance training.
Saturdays they travelled to Mollymook for a stairs and hill session. Sunday was a longer slower run of 65 minutes duration.
In between that, Gypsy trained with Broulee surf club, often running to training.
But Kate trusted that Gypsy was measured and balanced in her training, and that Andae ensured that also.
"Something I really appreciate about Gypsy's coach is that she always puts the athlete's health first," she said.
"So the slightest sign of a runny nose or a niggly injury or something, then you just stop straight away and you don't come back until you're better."
Indeed, Gypsy was out of the running program for the entire summer due to a stress fracture. Andae provided her with a recovery based program on the stationary bike.
Gypsy returned fitter than ever and went on to qualify for the Australian Championships and the Australian regional team that will compete at the Oceania Athletic Championships.
Kate said they have been encourage by the organisation to fundraise for their competition costs and travel. The family have set about raising the $3500 needed.
They had been overwhelmed by the support the community had shown so far. The Bayview Hotel in Batemans Bay and Moruya Pharmacy had offered generous lump sums.
"It's hard to ask people for donations and money - it's not something that's easy to do - especially at the moment," Kate said.
"The fact that people have been so supportive and encouraging is really overwhelming."
As for Gypsy's ambitions, she said, besides soaking up the atmosphere of the teams in Suva, she was hoping for a personal best (PB).
"I would love to run a PB that would be really good, and I would love to try and stick with the front pack and see what happens," she said.
