Best of district on show

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NEIGHBOURHOOD rivalry will be in full force over the next four days at the Olympic Pool for the annual Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay Summer Champs.

The centre’s top age-group and open swimmers will be vying for individual, relay and club honours.

Members of three outside clubs — St Peter’s Swimming Academy (Cambridge), Otumoetai and Raumati — will lift competitor numbers to 170.

The champs start this afternoon with the 800-metre and 1500m freestyle events, then get into full swing with medley heats from 8.15am tomorrow.

Most of the events feature heats and afternoon finals in four age groups — 10 years and under, 11-12, 13-14, and 15 and over.

As well as medals for first, second and third, the top swimmers will be vying for age-group champions decided by overall points and 10 individual trophies donated by well-known swimming names such as Mead, Goodall and Johnstone.

There is also the prestigious swimmer-of-the-meet honour, which goes to the competitor who achieves the highest FINA points-scoring swim.

Fifteen relay titles are up for grabs, along with the Seymour Cup district relay contested by Napier, Hastings and Gisborne.

Clubs, including Gisborne’s Enterprise Cars Swim Team and Comet, will battle for four team trophies — the Junior Aggregate Cup for most points in the 12-and-under age groups; the Herald Aggregate Cup for most points in the 13-and-over age groups, the President’s Cup for most points over all age groups and the United Trophy for most titles.