Armidale swimmer Beth Council was in fine form on the weekend, breaking an Inverell Swimming Pool record when she competed at the Annual Qualifying Carnival.
While Council has been swimming since the age of six, and broken many records, this is the first time she has broken a pool record.
“My time for the 400m freestyle was 5 minutes 2 seconds, and I don’t know by how many seconds I broke the previous record. All I know is that it feels pretty good,” she said.
Her love affair with swimming has had its ups and downs.
“Sometimes you’ve got to push yourself but at other times it’s all, ‘Yeah, let’s do this’.”
Young kids from around the region gathered at Inverell Swimming Pool on Saturday and Sunday for the Annual Qualifying Carnival.
The representative swimmers came from far and wide for the weekend’s event which included swimmers from Narrabri, Moree, Glen Innes, Gunnedah and Tamworth.
The youngest swimmer to take a dive into the pool was five years and ages ranged all the way to 37 years.
A number of kids qualified for the country championships, and another record broken was by Inverell’s Sophie Mijic who broke an Inverell Swimming Club record from 1997 in 400 metres freestyle.
“It means that training has had an impact and is making me faster,” she said.
Mijic, a swimmer since the age of six, is no stranger to breaking records and this is by no means her first.
“It’s not new, but I’m quite excited,” Mijic said. “Being able to break a 20-year-old record is pretty amazing.”
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It’s moments like this that keep her going, but she also just loves the club’s atmosphere and the sport itself.
“What motivates me are the friends around me, and also how supportive my friends and family are of me. But I also just like the sport.”
