Central Hawke’s Bay swimming sisters Paige (left) and Bree Franklin with their medals from NZ Secondary Schools Open Water Swimming Championships.
Open water swimming has been a passion for Central Hawke’s Bay sisters Paige and Bree Franklin for several years.
The sisters competed in their first open water swim of the season at Epic Swim, which was held in Lake Taupo on January 13. Both chose the challenge of swimming the 1km and 500m races back-to-back.
In the 1km race, with a field of 121 swimmers, Paige was the 1st female finisher and 4th overall, Bree placed 14th in her age group.
Ten minutes later both girls got back into the water to swim the 500m race.
Paige managed to complete the double, coming 1st female again, but this time 2nd overall. Bree placed 1st in her age group and 3rd female overall.
The next open water event was the Napier Port Open Swim where Bree competed in the 500m race finishing 2nd female and 2nd overall. Paige followed up her sister’s swim by winning the female 1km race and also placing 2nd overall.
The final event was the New Zealand Secondary School Open Water Championships where the girls represented their school, CHB College.
This was held at Blue Lake in Rotorua on March 16 in conjunction with the ocean swim series. Paige gained the National Secondary School title by winning the gold in the 14-15-year-old girls race over 1km. She also picked up the silver medal in the 500m race, narrowly missing out on the gold by four seconds.
Bree, competing in the 12–13-year-old girls 1km race, finished 7th and followed up with a podium finish by winning the bronze in the 500m race. These results placed CHB College 5th overall out of the 48 schools represented at these championships.
Paige, along with fellow CHB swim club members, Lucas Perceval and Jayden Bryant, will now turn her attention to the New Zealand Swimming Championships and National Age Group Championships to be held at the Hastings Regional Aquatic Centre in April. They will be supported by their coach Alonso Fernandez Rodriguez.
If you are interested in getting your child involved in the CHB Swim Club, there is a club night once a month at the Centralines Sports Complex, new members are always welcome. For further information please contact Erin Jenkins, chbswimclub@gmail.com or check out the CHB Swim Club Facebook page.
The Slavin family have been counting down the days until the season opens.