Lil Clearwater broke a 27-year-old Otago swimming record at the weekend.
It was a reward for her own dedication and that of her family.
Lil (15), a year 11 pupil at Bayfield High School, won the girls aged 14 and 15 200m backstroke in a long-course record time of 2min 26sec.
It beat the old record of 2min 27.40sec that was swum by the Duncan Laing-trained Nicola Chambers (Kiwi) in 1982.
Lil lives on a sheep and cattle farm at Cape Saunders and faces a 40-minute drive to Moana Pool for coach Gennadiy Labara's morning training, which starts at 5am.
The alarm rings at 3.50am and Lil is driven to Dunedin by her mother, Sharon, at 4.15am sharp.
Sharon drives Lil to school after training.
There is another two-hour session in the afternoon.
Sharon Clearwater has a car-pool system arranged with families of other peninsula swimmers who also travel to early training at Moana Pool.
Lil's twin brother, Gus, does some swimming but his main passion is rugby.
Lil started serious swimming nearly three years ago when she received a letter inviting her to join Labara's Otago Swimming Coaching Academy (Osca) squad.
Lil is preparing for the New Zealand age-group championships but has also set her sights further ahead.
"I want to go as far as I can and keep enjoying it," she said.
It has been a successful and record-breaking few months for Lil.
She set an Otago short-course record of 2min 18.28sec for the 200m backstroke at the New Zealand summer championships in Christchurch in December.
She also broke three short-course Otago records at the South Island championships, also in Christchurch, in September.
Lil also broke her own long-course 100m backstroke record with 1min 09.05sec at the Otago championships.
Other records went to: Stef Gillespie (Waves), girls aged 12 and 13 1500m freestyle (18min 00.63sec); Matt Henderson (Wanaka), boys aged 10 and 11 100m breaststroke (1min 26.65sec).
