Women’s sport: Celya Brige, 2026 French runner-up in the Longe-Côte trail race

Originally from the Paris region, where she grew up with a father who was a gendarme and a mother who was a nurse, nothing suggested she would end up in sport. After completing her baccalaureate in economics and social sciences, she considered studying law to become a solicitor. However, a sprained ankle and rehabilitation sessions with a physiotherapist changed her plans. She discovered a whole new world and went on to study for a bachelor’s degree in STAPS (Sciences and Techniques of Physical and Sporting Activities), where she quickly found her calling. With a master’s degree in Adapted Physical Activity, specialising in chronic diseases and ageing, she moved to Saint-Martin four years ago. As she observed the health issues affecting the local population – diabetes, obesity and being overweight – one thing became clear: water is a wonderful therapeutic tool. To bring her project to fruition, however, she needed a lifeguard qualification. The opportunity arose in 2022 when the local authority funded a BPJEPS training course to prepare for the opening of the future local swimming pool. Although the pool never actually materialised, Celya was not about to let her chance slip by. Her plan was already clearly defined: to set up her own organisation.

AQUATERR’HAPPY: a commitment to water-based therapy

The venture began in late 2023 with Kevin, a fellow trainee. At first, there was just one aquagym class on Sundays. Three years later, Aquaterr’Happy offers eight weekly sessions, complemented by Pilates, strength training and swimming lessons. The small community that started it all has grown considerably, consisting largely of women. At the same time, a third of her work is now dedicated to supporting patients referred by healthcare professionals for tailored aquatic exercise programmes. Although her daily life is already very active, Celya cannot imagine doing her job without leading by example. During her sessions, she performs all the exercises alongside her participants. And when she wants to unwind, she puts on her trainers… or heads to the sea.

Longe-Côte: a revelation in competition

Longe-Côte remains within her favourite field – the aquatic environment – and, out of curiosity, she wanted to give it a go. Her rapport with the team at the Friendly Longe-Côte club convinced her to try out a team sport – a first for her – in November 2025. But would that lead her to take up competitive sport? “It was actually more the experience of competition, the motivation of the whole team, and the fact of doing it together that appealed to me, rather than the results themselves,” she says with that smile she never loses. Yet the results came very quickly: first in Martinique during the regional qualifiers in February, where she won five medals, including three golds; then at the French Championships in June in La Baule, where she took silver in the Longe-Côte trail race, a race renowned for its difficulty, which she approached in a relaxed frame of mind and where she wasn’t expecting any particular result given the times set by competitors at national level. 

True to her character, Celya prefers to attribute this performance to the support of her club and the encouragement of her teammates rather than to her own efforts alone. Her aim is to carry on, with her sights set on a gold medal at next year’s French Championships and, why not, a place in the European Championships in the near future.
She is already preparing for this by considering which events to enter. This time, she’d like to focus on the trail – the Longe-Côte and the 400m pairs event – so she can share a race with someone… in this case, Elsa Petetin, her current partner. The aim is to focus more closely on the disciplines she’ll compete in to improve her performance. But always with the same enjoyment of sharing the effort… and pushing her limits a little further.