Kalgoorlie Amateur Swimming Club recently played host to the 65th annual Country Pennants held at Goldfields Oasis Kalgoorlie, drawing over 500 swimmers from 25 clubs spanning from Karratha through to Albany and Esperance.
The opening ceremony saw Kalgoorlie Amateur Swimming Club awarding Life Membership to Sharon Bennett, Tracey Gale and Caroline Todd in recognition of their longstanding volunteer work.
City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mayor Glenn Wilson celebrated the event's importance, stating, "It is a great opportunity for us to host and to also honour this wonderful event."
"Having a swim club doing so well here in our Goldfields for so long is an absolute credit to the organisers and also to the association."
"Congratulations to the organisers and Swimming WA… all those who have played a vital role in getting these Championships hosted here in Kalgoorlie-Boulder."
A significant amount of time and effort is invested in creating Country Pennants, and this is rightly reflected in the attention to detail, especially that goes into designing the medals.
The level of attention to detail is truly impressive, as evidenced by the meaningful stories behind Kalgoorlie's medals. For instance, the outer blue dots on the medal represent different swimming groups, while the concentric circles pay tribute to the region's mining heritage and incorporate indigenous symbolism.
Several swimmers stood out at the competition, breaking records in various events. Taizley Krispyn from Manjimup broke records in the Girls 15yrs/U 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke C Grade, shaving over a second off the 50m freestyle clocking in at 28.15 seconds.
9-year-old Cora Delaporte from Tom Price broke two records in the Girls 8-9 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke D Grade, shaving 1.62 seconds off the record in the 50 backstroke and clocking in at 43.26 seconds. Alice Bird-Atkinson, from Geographe Bay, scored a record time of 29.38 in the girls 13yrs/U 50m freestyle C Grade, breaking the record by 1.18 seconds.
The relays also saw some record-breaking performances, with Karratha 'A' team breaking records in the men's open 200m medley and freestyle relay B Grade, and Manjimup 'A' team in the women's open 200m freestyle relay C Grade. The highlight was Karratha's team of Yani Davis, Brian Nguyen, Tama Jenkins, and Bodie Biddiscombe breaking the two-minute mark in the 200m medley relay, clocking in at a record-breaking time of 1:57.87.
Jessica Leeson from Northam competed in the 50m freestyle, touching the wall at 30.59, only 2.28 seconds off the State Record.
Mandurah Swimming Club improved on their second-place finish last year, winning the A Grade competition with a total of 913 points.
Mandurah's Assistant Coach Michail Papadopoulos said, “It was a very amazing weekend of racing... we hope that we can replicate that next year in our hometown... highlights were all the relays, some of them were very close so we had to cheer up for the whole squad.”
When asked about the difference from last year's Country Pennants, Mandurah's Club Secretary Kelli Thomson said, “I think more teams, more people and we’ve just done so well this year overall."
