TAMWORTH City Swimming Club conducted one of its biggest ever carnivals on the weekend, the Sharks hosting some 274 swimmers and coping with more than 1600 entries.
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Club president Peter Summers was delighted with the response.
He said the decision to allow the Sharks to host the Speedo Sprint Series Carnival on Saturday morning was also a benefit to everyone concerned.
“We’ve had a fantastic carnival,” Summers said.
“It’s been huge, the biggest in the region.”
He said in the past, clubs were not allowed to hold their carnival on the same weekend as the Speedo Sprint Series.
“Having it here brought more people to our carnival and more people to the regional carnival as well,” he said.
“We ended up with 30 to 40 more kids than we normally get.
“And when they held the Speedo Sprints before, they’d only get about 80 swimmers.
“This is good for everyone, good for us and great for Tamworth.
“A lot of the visitors stayed last night.”
He said 16 clubs were represented at the Tamworth Carnival which began after the Speedo Sprints on Saturday and had most of the distance events.
“That was good too.
“It gave all the swimmers who didn’t have qualification times for Country the chance to record a qualifying time,” he said.
That meant young swimmers had the chance to qualify for the Country Championships in 1600m, 800m and 400m events.
Those Country Championships will be held at the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre on February 22/23.
“We’re one of the last carnivals where the swimmers can qualify,” Summers said.
“There’s only one or two more where they can qualify for Country.
“It’s been a great couple of days.”
Tamworth City’s young relay team of Lyndell Boschma, Josie Chick, Eloise Turner and Mikaela Short led the way for the Sharks with two big relay swims on Saturday.
They combined to qualify for the 4X50m freestyle plus the Under 12 medley relay.
