Geraldton swimmers impress as Geraldton Amateur Swim Club hosts short-course classic

They may have been underwater but local swimmers were running red-hot as Geraldton played host to the annual Red Dust Holdings Short Course Classic on Saturday and Sunday.

The Geraldton Aquarena welcomed swimmers from around the State with the meet a regular drawcard for Perth clubs looking to post competitive times ahead of significant meets over the winter short-course season.

But closer to home it’s a big test for local swimmers against the best in the State after a successful season for the club which saw it take third and retain their A-grade status at the country WA Country Swimming Pennants in Northam in March.

Geraldton had 38 swimmers competing with more than 150 swimmers from ages 8-16 entering the pool across the weekend.

Points aren’t tracked like country pennants with the focus of the event on PBs and improving techniques which Geraldton achieved in spades according to coach Mary Lynas.

“Word from the officials so far is off-the-block times and dives have improved, the underwater works and the overall endurance has improved, collective as a club PBS has been amazing this weekend,” Lynas said.

Lynas said a short-course event is a key test of technique and efficiency with turns and underwater work a big factor.

“We work on efficiency, and making sure that we practice was the underwater work for increasing that cardiovascular lung capacity so you don’t automatically come up and breathe straightaway from that turn,” she said.

“You’ve got to be really efficient in that respect.”

While there was plenty of competition parents and helper Anna Kosch said the meet was also a great opportunity for kids to make friends and support each other.

“Helping out today, from a parent’s perspective it’s been a fantastic meet and to see our local swimmers get together as a club and achieve, it’s really nice to see the kids having fun together,” she said.

“There’s been some really great sponsorship forward this year as well and then for everyone to come together and make an event like this happen it always runs so smoothly on the day,”

“It’s amazing to see the behind-the-scenes and how many people actually check in to make it happen, from the local officials to the ladies running the raffle it’s a great effort from everyone.”

The good times on the day also gave Kosch and Lynas plenty of optimism going foward with plenty of junior swimmers coming through the ranks.

“We’ve seen a lot of the younger the age group actually come through, collectively, we’ve got more younger swimmers coming into the club now, as opposed to a year ago, so we’re in a really good place,” Lynas said.

“The key is being consistent and continuing that development.”

“We’ve got more relay teams in those younger age groups this year, which shows that we’ve got new swimmers coming to the club and staying to compete in meets like this, which is fantastic, obviously for the longevity of the club.”