Seagulls Short Course Championships
In October, a team of 30 swimmers from the Aquatic Academy travelled to Durban’s Kings Park Pool to compete in one of the largest 4 day events on the SA swim calendar – The Seagulls Short Course Championships.. Many of South Africa’s elite swimmers take part in this event, eg. Jordan Le Clos and Ayerton Sweeney. Last year our swimmers were enthralled to watch Chad Le Clos in action.
Our team of Academy parents and facilitators set a vision for the future of our club swimmers…. “Limitless”! This is now branded on all our attire. All our swimmers were generously sponsored with a T shirt from “Me Myself and I” (company logo that befits our “Limitless” vision).
Event entries ranged between 75 and 110 competitors per event and age group. The days are always long, starting at 6.30am, and on some nights, finishing after 6.00pm.
This gala is a tremendous opportunity for our swimmers to gain experience, and rub shoulders with SA’s swimming icons. (Regretfully too many excellent results to list individually). They seldom get the opportunity to see swimmers at the level to which they hope to aspire. After being exposed to this level of swimming, it is very rewarding for both coaches and parents to note the improvements of our older swimmers.
One example (All swimmers achieved) is Kyle Mckenzie, who swam his 200 IM in a time of 2:13:26 (40 seconds off his time from the 2015 event. )
The Academy” Limitless” Seagulls Team.
The event was staged at the Kings Park Pool in Durban where the Olympic Trials were hosted, earlier this year.
Top Back: Jonathan Smith. Nicholas Smith, Travis Banks, Ciaran Le Goff, Clayton Malaza.
Standing Middle:
Colette Fourie, Jayden Kreusch, Keanan Kreusch, Ashleigh Stock, Kerri-Lyn Claase, Storm Ryder, Chane Van Rooyen Wyatt Banks.
Sitting Mddle:
Murray Copeland, Brooklynn Bohler, Savannah Mitchell, Kent Field, Kyle Mckenzie, Christina Pon, Danika Brechenmacher, Oyama Malaza, Adrian Ristow, Keagan Bothma and Tambai Dutiro.
Front: Zoe Stock and Mikayle Pon.
Absent .Keara Bothma, Jayden Botha, and Diego Dos Anjos
