By KATE HAND
THE sun was shining, the breeze was occasionally blowing and the kids were always swimming, the perfect ingredients for a successful swimming sports day.
After an interrupted swimming lessons program and postponed school sports day, the students, staff and supportive parents of Peranbin Primary College made sure the Violet Town pool was the place to be on Wednesday, February 24.
Once all was settled, with swimming levels noted on hands and kids in their house teams, the inaugural Peranbin Endurance Championship got underway.
This was an open race for any children who had completed Level D or above in the school's swimming lessons program.
This meant the race event was open to all ages and gender.
A keen, but openly nervous group lined up at the starting line.
After a lap of the Violet Town footy oval (and boy were they quick), the competitors had to move into the pool area and complete two laps of freestyle and then a final lap in a different stroke.
In 2021, the final lap included breaststroke, backstroke and even butterfly!
Congratulations to Elliette Jeffery, who took out the championship, followed by Carter King and Ruby Davis in second and third place respectively.
Following on from this individual event, the house competition got down to business, with everyone who entered the pool and competing, earning points for their house.
Some of these events were what you would expect, such as laps in various strokes down or across the pool, but also less likely ones such as noodle races, underwater races, collecting items off the bottom of the pool and the cork/bottle cap scramble (a chaotic splashing highlight).
After the final event, the numbers were tallied, with the total points divided by the number of swimmers in the house to provide an average number of points per swimmer.
The final placings were: First - Green 17.6; Second - Blue 15.2; Third - Yellow 13.6 and Fourth - Red 13.5.
The Green team was under-represented on the day due to teammates unwell for competition but the five members who could get wet, demonstrated swimming prowess as well as determination to always try their hardest.
Congratulations to everyone for their efforts throughout the day and encouraging one another regardless of which house they belonged to.
