Winning treble for Gunnedah swimmer

Gunnedah has a three-time NSW Country swimming champion in Banjo Fitzgerald, following a remarkable comeback from a serious injury.

The 10-year-old clinched three gold medals at the Country Championships in Homebush last weekend, along with a silver and a bronze.

Banjo’s story is one of resilience, hard work and determination after he fractured his spine on the rugby field last August and was forced out of the pool for three months.

Miraculously avoiding serious damage to his spinal cord by just millimetres, the talented butterflier had been riding a wave of success before the accident happened.

Banjo had won two bronze medals at school nationals in July where he raced at the highest level against the best age swimmers in Australia.

Since then, it has been a long and challenging road back to his fastest times which he finally cracked last weekend.

This followed weeks of dedicated training, emotional resilience and hard work in the lanes to persevere and pursue his goals.

Banjo won gold in the 10 years boys 50m and 100m butterfly and 50m freestyle, silver in the 100m freestyle and bronze in the 50m backstroke. He set personal best (PB) times in six out of seven individual races.

Banjo’s squad mates performed at their best across many events as well, after securing 25 PBs and 20 top-10 finalist finishes.

Gunnedah’s junior boys relay team stepped up to compete in the 12 years and under event. The group, consisting of two 10-year-olds and two 11-year olds in Banjo, Wyatt Shorter, Nathan Reeves and Cameron Sills, raced against much older swimmers.

Seeded 22nd in the 4×50 freestyle event, they finished in a credible eighth place and 14th in the medley relay.

Cameron was also on the comeback trail, having been sidelined for several weeks with a fractured wrist.

The 11-year-old worked hard during training and showed resilience to finish in the top 10 in the 50m breaststroke (fifth), 200m breaststroke (sixth), 100m butterfly (eighth), 100m breaststroke (ninth) and 100m freestyle (10th).

After a hugely successful season and committed training, Wyatt (10) continued his brilliant form to finish fifth in the 50m breaststroke and seventh in the 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 100m breaststroke.

Lewis Mainey (10) swam into eighth place with a PB in the 50m freestyle, while Belle Nichols finished well to place sixth in the 50m backstroke and freestyle, seventh in the 50m butterfly and eighth in the 50m breaststroke.

Tayla Thompson (11), Tahnee Steele (15) and Jessica Broadhead (14) all set new best times.

Gunnedah coach Colin Marley said he was impressed with the boys relay team and their results for such a young group.

The coach also praised the ongoing success with achieving best times.

“It’s easy for kids to do big PBs at the start of the season, but the kids are doing PBs on a consistent basis for two months which is very positive,” he said.

The 12&U Gunnedah boys relay team: Cameron Sills, Banjo Fitzgerald, Nathan Reeves, Wyatt Shorter.

Cameron Sills in action during a butterfly event. INSET: Belle Nichols.

The Gunnedah squad at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. Back: Nathan Reeves, Jessica Broadhead, Tahnee Steele, Cameron Sills. Front: Lewis Mainey, Banjo Fitzgerald, Wyatt Shorter, Tayla Thompson.