There was a huge splash at the hometown carnival of Swimming Gunnedah on January 3, when the club hosted its annual long course swim meet.

A squad of 34 swimmers competed with club pride, and they snatched a huge number of personal best (PB) times and qualified for upcoming NSW representative meets in Sydney.

Coach Colin Marley was extremely happy with his squad’s “excellent results”, with the squad tallying 34 gold, 32 silver and 25 bronze.

“There were a number of kids that swam for the first time which was pleasing to see and the kids who stepped up their training achieved some great times,” he said.

The Ian Bartlett Memorial Relay was a highlight of the day, with swimmers battling it out in a 6x50m freestyle relay race.

Gunnedah fielded 10 teams over two heats and came away with the prized cup, presented by life member Marie Hobson.

The titleholders included Aiden Sills, Matilda Ramien, Macey Dalessandro, Cameron Sills, Jake Hausfeld and Tahnee Steele.

The crowd was also on its feet for the junior and senior Skins events, where the fastest 50m freestylers lined up for a series of knockout races with $100 cash up for grabs for the winners.

In a race of tactics and stamina, the competitors swam 50m with a short rest in between races until it came down to the final two to battle it out.

It was a double win for Gunnedah in the tightly contested 10&U events, with Lewis Mainey touching first in the boys and Matilda winning the girls.

In the seniors, it was another thrilling set of races with the boys event won by Tamworth City’s Ethan Foster.

The 11&O senior girls came down to former Gunnedah swimmers and old club training partners Molly Ramien (St Peters Western) and Lexi Whitton (Knox Pymble).

In an almost dead heat at the finish, Molly took it out on the touch.

The carnival was a huge success with a raffle worth almost $5,000, while there was also a 100 Club and a barbecue.

Competitors travelled from regions including Newcastle and the Hunter, North Coast, Central West, Southern Highlands and New England and North West.

The Gunnedah swimmers left for the week-long Gold Coast camp the following day, and will compete at Country Regionals in Inverell this weekend.

Gunnedah also competed at carnivals in Coffs Harbour and Tamworth over the past two weeks.

The club’s eldest swimmer, Andrew Riordan, made a splash at the Tamworth City meet which was his first competitive swim event in years.

Aged 48, he blitzed a time of 28.72 in the 50m freestyle and 1:05.83 in the 100m freestyle.

Swimming Gunnedah life member Marie Hobson (left) presents the Ian Bartlett Memorial Relay trophy to winners Tahnee Steele, Cameron Sills, Matilda Ramien, Aiden Sills, Jake Hausfeld and Macey Dalessandro.

Jessica Broadhead in a butterfly race.

Junior Skins winners Matilda Ramien and Lewis Mainey with their winnings.

Lennox Sheridan gives it his all in the 50m freestyle.