Stingrays host annual carnival at the Narrabri Aquatic Centre

Narrabri Stingrays Swimming Club hosted its annual carnival on Sunday which began at 8.30am and continued well into the afternoon.

Swimmers from 20 different clubs were in action on the day.

More than 30 pool records were broken at the event, and while there were no new Stingrays records set, the host club combined for 10 event wins, 12 second-placed finishes and 14 third-placed finishes.

There were 42 Stingrays swimmers in action at their home carnival, many of whom were backing up from the Wee Waa Swimming Club carnival on Saturday.

The Stingrays’ efforts, improvements and achievements pleased head coach Fiona Connell.

“We went to both carnivals and the weekend was a really, really big success, especially for our younger swimmers,” Connell said.

“The kids’ ability to back up was great. It usually takes a lot of experience to do two carnivals in a row and to perform well at the second carnival so the ability for our team to turn around, even though it was different events and a different format, they were still able to bring constant effort.

“We are very youthful this year in regards to our carnival attendees, so we have a lot of younger swimmers going to their first carnivals.

“A few of our other young members who have been to one or two carnivals in the past are now really stepping up and were able to get their first medals or prize wins ever.

“It’s really rewarding to see.”

Connell said that the Stingrays have been extra enthusiastic this season following the COVID-19 restrictions that halted the sport during the year.

“Our 10-and-unders especially are doing really good things,” she said.

“It’s exciting because they really focus on school swimming and I think because a lot of those things were taken away earlier this year there’s been a lot of desire to swim fast earlier in the year.

“But our older swimmers haven’t had the best preparation and they have a bit of work to do to get back to where they need to be.”

Connell thanked the Stingrays’ committee for its hard work and dedication which helped make the carnival a success, and thanked everyone who helped out in any way before or on the day.

More photos from the carnival to come.