Inaugural Canterbury West Coast Short Course Championships

The inaugural Swimming Canterbury West Coast (SCWC) Short Course Championships took place last weekend with it marking milestones for the swimming community of Christchurch.

Earlier this year the Christchurch City Council undertook repairs to the sport pool at Jellie Park Recreation and Sports Centre, which included removing the tiles to fractionally lengthen the pool so it was long enough to accommodate the electronic timing touch pads.

This has been a significant milestone for swimming in the region as they have been unable to use the touch pads since the QEII pool complex was destroyed in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.

With limited pool space since the earthquakes SCWC has reviewed its program of swim meets to deliver the best possible competition pathway for swimmers, given the reduced resources available.

This regional short course meet is part of the revised calendar and was introduced to give swimmers quality preparation in the lead up to the South Island Championships in August and the New Zealand Short Course Championships in October. Age groups were capped and qualifying standards introduced to enhance the quality of racing.

The demand for water space in Christchurch has also meant that all local club meets since the earthquakes have had to be run as timed final events. For this regional short course event SCWC was able to secure sufficient water space and time slots to run the meet with heats in the morning and finals at night, a new experience for a significant number of their swimmers.

The meet was a huge success with great swimming across all age groups. There were 171 athletes competing from 14 clubs throughout the South Island.

CAPTION: 100m backstroke heats at the 2016 SCWC Short Course Championships at Jellie Park Recreation and Sports Centre.