A team of 12 local swimmers applied home advantage to produce some stunning results when the BOI Special Olympics Club hosted the Far North's first two-day regional aquatics meet at Kawakawa on April 27 and 28.
Fifty swimmers from Thames Valley to Kaitaia took part in the event, which wasalso the first time that the BOI's two training squads - made up of swimmers from Kawakawa and Kaitaia - competed as one team.
The BOI swimmers competed in both development events (15m walk, kick, swim) and competitive events (25m-200m); and all swam to some great PBs (personal best times) while gaining a considerable swag of medals, the tally including 10 gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals, with the highlight being twin silver medal results from the two relay swims.
This was the final regional swim meet to qualify for the Special Olympics National Summer Games in Dunedin in November. It also was the Kaitaia group's first club meet and they all stepped up and performed well above expectation. BOISOC officials singled out Denise Pure (Kaitaia College) for praise for training her swimmers every Friday and preparing them so well for the meet.
On behalf of the club, coaches Paul and Barbara Linton said the Kawakawa meet ran very smoothly thanks to the efforts of a group of dedicated senior officials who travelled up from Counties Manukau and Auckland. They also thanked the meet's sponsors, mostly local companies, as well as the BOI Swim Club and Rotary, Waipapa Lions and Swimming Northland who provided volunteers and equipment for the day. The club was now looking forward to building on its recent successes at the nationals.
