Over the course of just a month, we have seen Wellington's best swimmers take each other on at our pinnacle short course regional events. On the 25th of May and 22nd - 23rd of June, we saw a total of 23 Clubs compete at our 800m & 1500m Championships and our Short Course Championships, which included 14 clubs from outside of the Wellington Region join us to take part and provide healthy competition for our local swimmers. It was amazing to see so many swimmers at our championships looking to improve in times, get qualifying times for New Zealand Short Course Champs and most importantly, support the clubs they represent.
Our Distance Championships were held at Coastlands Aquatic Centre and Short Course Championships were held at the Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre. Both competitions gave clubs a chance to collect points towards the Tawa Trophy and the Mana Swimco Cup. During the Distance Champs, we saw some amazing swims throughout the night; with many new personal bests and first-time swims. A total of 58 medals were given out to those that finished in the top three of their respective age groups. It was fantastic to see was Luka Willems (Wharenui) breaking the S18 800 Freestyle New Zealand Record, going a time of 14.46.53. Amazing work, Luka! Congratulations to all swimmers who participated.
Moving on to the 2024 Short Course Championships, we saw an amazing turn out of swimmers over the two day competition. A total of 263 swimmers competed and we had a total of 516 Wellington Medals, with a total of 136 Visitor Medals awarded.
There were a plethora of regional records broken over the weekend. Kayne Howat (SwimZone Racing) broke the 15 Years 50m Freestyle Wellington Record, which was previously held by Cameron Jones, going a time of 23.85. Towards the end of the session, we saw Charlie Dickison (Ngā Tai Tūātea a Taraika) break the 13 Years 400m Freestyle Wellington Record, going a time of 4.13.64, breaking the record previously held by Bronson Lloyd. The start of third session saw Kayne Howat return to break the 15 Years 50m Butterfly Wellington Record in a time of 25.10. Session four then saw a whopping four records broken. Charlie Madar-Leuluai (Capital Swim Club) broke the 13 Years 50m Backstroke Wellington Record, previously held by Declan Broadfoot, going a time of 28.54. Georgina Bell (Pirates Swim Team) then went on to break the 18 Years 50m Backstroke Wellington Record going 29.02. Declan Broadfoot (Pirates) broke the 14 Years 200m Butterfly Wellington Record going a time of 2.08.58, breaking former Pirates stalwart, Jedi Moreland-Janes. Rounding off the final night’s record spree, Charlie Dickison (Taraika) broke the 13 Years 200m Freestyle Wellington Record with a time of 2.00.26. This record was previously held by himself when he set it at the Ōtaki National Qualifier earlier this month.
Every year, at the conclusion of the Short Course Championships, we award two trophies, the Tawa Trophy and the Mana Swimco Cup. These two trophies have always been presented each year to the top performing clubs of the regional short course season. Presented to the club with four or more swimmers that achieved the best average even points over the meet, the winner of the Tawa Trophy for 2024 is Raumati Swimming Club! Closely behind in second and third was Capital Swim Club and Porirua City Aquatics, respectively. The Mana Swimco Cup is presented to the Wellington club that achieved the overall highest number of points across both the 800m & 1500m Championships and the Short Course Championships. This year's winner, once again, is Porirua City Aquatics with an inspiring 2,142.50 points. Following in second and third were Pirates Swim Team and Capital Swim Club. Amazing work!
And that is a wrap on the Swimming Wellington Short Course Championships. What a truly great month of racing. Congratulations to every single swimmer that competed at either competition and further congratulations to all coaches for working hard with their swimmers leading up to this month. A massive thank you to every single volunteer who put their hand up and helped us make this meet possible. This included all our runners, technical officials, announcers, timekeepers, recorders, as well as everyone in the AOD Room. Special thanks to Viv Morton who was there to give out all the medals and ribbons. As always, we appreciate your amazing help. A special thank you to our amazing Event Manager, Louise Tresch, Chief Executive, Angus Pashley, Technical Director, Jacqui Forsythe, as well as our entire Events Committee on making these competitions possible.
Extra thank you to our Event Sponsors for supporting us all the way and making this possible. Those Sponsors are:
- NZ Community Trust
- Wellington City Council
- Pelorus Trust
- One Foundation
- SwimHub
We look forward to seeing you all at our future Swimming Wellington competitions. From all of us at Swimming Wellington, thank you!
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