Whanganui swimmer Ziva Bunker breaks record that stood since 1986

Ziva Bunker had one last crack at the 10-year age group records last weekend.

Whanganui swimmer Ziva Bunker had one last chance to break some age group records - and she took it.

The 10-year-old, who turns 11 at the end of the week, notched up three Whanganui records at the Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay Winter Short Course Championships.

After sneaking past Marama Bannister’s (nee Cameron) 1986 200-metre freestyle record in a time of 2:37.48, she beat her old Whanganui records in the 200-metre backstroke and 50-metre backstroke with times of 2:42:47 and 35.44 respectively.

She also won all nine disciplines she entered.

Ziva, a member of the Whanganui Swimming Club, now owns six local short course records and two long course in the 10-year age group.

She said her current training regime involved four lots of 1.5-hour sessions - one in the morning and three in the afternoon or evening.

“What keeps me going is all the support that I get from my friends and family,” she said.

“It’s an amazing group of people that I swim with.”

There was a big jump in record times in the 11-year category for some disciplines but not in others, she said.

“For some, the records I’m breaking as a 10-year-old would also be the record for an 11-year-old.

“I’ll be trying for the medleys and the breaststroke.”

In terms of training, she would do “more and more sessions” as she got older.

When she turned 12 she would move to a higher squad, who trained between five and eight times a week.

Club spokesman Aaron Bunker said Whanganui had always been pretty good at keeping its records from the past, whether it be coaches or parents.

“It’s a little bit of history and it’s something for the kids to have a crack at.

“They are a stepping stone to the Manawatū records, which, dare I say it, are a little bit quicker than the Whanganui ones.”

Bunker said he had no doubt swimmers from his club would be breaking them soon.

“Our swimmers are edging closer and closer to those Manawatū ones.

“Once you get one of those records, you go in there with some pretty big names - impressive swimmers of the past.”

Records were there to be broken, he said.

“Hopefully it won’t be another 37 years before this one is broken.

“I’d like to think we are breaking more now than we have in years gone by.

“Obviously we got hit during those Covid times but we’ve bounced back from those days. The kids are able to train properly and the club is growing and getting stronger.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.