WANGARATTA will play host to some of Victoria's best swimmers this weekend. The Ovens and Murray District Swimming Association and Swimming Victoria will hold the 2023 Victorian Country Short Course Swimming Championships at the Wangaratta Sports and Aquatic Centre, using the venue’s 25m indoor pool for competition and the heated 50m outdoor pool configured as 2 x 25m pools for warmups and cool downs. Association president Brendon Shiels said this is the ninth time the district has hosted the event in Wangaratta, with record entries of around 570 swimmers with their families, coaches and swimming officials to descend on the city. He said 34 regional Victorian swimming clubs will compete, including large contingents from Geelong (77 competitors), Traralgon (71 competitors), South Gippsland (57 competitors) and Warrnambool (43 competitors). "The hosting Ovens and Murray Swimming District has 77 competitors from Wangaratta Amateur, Wangaratta Stingrays, Albury, Myrtleford, North Albury, Wodonga, Wodonga City, and Yarrawonga Mulwala swimming clubs," Mr Shiels said. "As well as allowing locals to watch some of the best state swimmers in action, the flow on benefits for the community are also great with most families staying in town for the two days to enjoy Wangaratta's hospitality through local restaurants and services. "We would like to thank our major sponsors, the Rural City of Wangaratta and Link Cold Storage for providing financial support for this championship event." Spectator entry is free for this event, but seating in the pool hall is expected to be tight. For more information go to the Swimming Victoria web page https://vic.swimming.org.au/events/victorian-country-sc-championships and the event Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/viccountrychampionships.
