Graham Johnstone and Greg Poetschka might be feeling a giant dose of deja vu this week as they prepare for Sunday’s huge annual swimming carnival, a carnival that has attracted a record 210 swimmers and some 1264 entries.

“Every year we seem to be having record numbers,” Poetschka said.

“We’ve got 210 swimmers, 30 more than we had for last year’s record carnival and have 1264 entries – that’s 180 up on last year too.

Poetschka said the region’s best swimmers have all entered “across all ages too, which will make for a highly competitive carnival”.

“We’ve got swimmers from 16 clubs – Sawtell, Moree, Glen Innes, Armidale Amateur, Narrabri, Gunnedah, Boggabri, Manilla, Muswellbrook, Scully Park, Tam City, Quirindi, Armidale Alligators, Werris Creek, Inverell and Kootingal.

“We also have a record number of our own swimmers competing – 50.” 

The club has 80 swimming members, with about 130 members all up.

It has swimmers from five through 18 and now has three qualified coaches.

“Intro to squad sessions were conducted at the end of 2013 and were a huge success, with eight new junior swimmers joining the club,” Poetschka said.

“They now participate in mini squad and doing pointscore,” he said of beginners who could originally only swim 10 metres.

“We have a record amount of swimmers at training sessions and the club now trains five afternoons per week with club nights on Tuesday evening.”

One of the highlights of Sunday’s Kootingal Carnival will be the Dash For Cash events.

“We run Dash for Cash events in three age groups – 10 and under, 11-13 and 14 and over – in both boys and girls,” Poetschka  said.

For more information, contact  Johnstone (0428 670336) or Poetschka (0429 784002).