Dissolution of Eastern Districts Region

In late 2012 the management committee of Eastern Districts decided that the time was right to dissolve their regional association.

The Independent Working Group review of Swimming New Zealand had suggested that the historical reasoning behind the number of regions should be discussed to see if amalgamation would be beneficial for the swimmers, the clubs, the officials, and the wider swimming community. Smaller regions, like Eastern Districts, have always struggled to have sufficient resources to provide all the services that they would like to. 

Swimming New Zealand fully supported this decision and helped Eastern Districts to implement the change in a way that met the expectations of the Eastern District clubs and their new regions, Canterbury West Coast and Otago.

With the demise of Eastern Districts, the new boundary between Canterbury West Coast and Otago is the Waitaki River. The current part of Eastern Districts to the north of the Waitaki River will now be part of the enlarged Canterbury West Coast, and the part of Eastern Districts to the south of the Waitaki River will now be part of the enlarged Otago region.

The 7 existing Eastern District clubs will now be affiliated as follows:

Canterbury West Coast
Ashburton
Geraldine
Mackenzie
Swim Timaru
Temuka
Waimate

Otago
Oamaru

As clubs were moved to their new region, all members of those clubs automatically became part of their new region. The amalgamation was completed before the 30th of June so all Eastern Districts clubs and members will be counted in their new regions for the 2013 Annual Report.

The management committee of Eastern Districts, and its chair Monique van Vugt, are convinced that this is the best path forwards for swimming in the Eastern Districts region, and they look forward to the benefits that will come from the change.