Swimmers throng to Hamilton for national meet

More than 330 swimmers from 83 clubs around the country have descended on Hamilton for the State New Zealand Division II competition starting on Wednesday.

This follows the success of the national school championship staged at Hamilton’s Waterworld in Te Rapa over the last two years.

“We are delighted to have another key swim meet at Waterworld. The pool complex is one of the few in the country that can handle a meet of this magnitude. Hamilton is both ideally located nationally and has excellent infrastructure to make this an ideal location,” said Swimming New Zealand’s Kent Stead.

The Division II meet is a long course (50m) competition for swimmers aged from 13 to 18 and forms a key part in Swimming New Zealand’s development programme.

“The Division II meet is one of the biggest in the country, with swimmers and their families coming into Hamilton from all parts of New Zealand,” he said.

“The competition attracts our next generation of young swimmers who we hope will use the meet to push on to the top age group and elite levels – and hopefully from there, some athletes will go on to  achieve results at an International level.”

The host Waikato region has 12 clubs competing, the most of any region, including Ace, Cambridge, Fairfield, Hillcrest, Matamata, Otorohanga, St Pauls, St Peters, Te Awamutu, Te Kuiti, Thames and Waihi.

Waikato is followed by Auckland and Canterbury with 10 clubs each. However there is strong support from the far flung regions with seven clubs travelling from Northland and five from Southland.

There are heats sessions from 9am daily with the finals each day from 6pm and the public are welcome to attend.