The 2021 Swimming NSW Country Regional Championships will be one to remember for Taree Torpedoes Swimming Club.
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With 510 swimmers in the pool and a further 1000 watching in the stands, the club hosted the biggest sports event in Taree since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Torpedoes secretary Ian Smith said the meeting was a win for the club and town.
Club officials were told many hotels were booked out by clubs while several restaurants struggled to keep up with the demand for food.
With COVID-19 measures in place to ensure athlete safety, swimmers focused on getting their best times recorded and winning medals.
Personal best times were made in most events for the Taree contingent.
Ian was impressed with their performances, given they trained for the meeting without a coach.
"To achieve what they did really exceeded their expectations," Ian said.
Top performers for Taree included Trenton Jones, Lucas Kloosterhof, Bevan Smith, Marcus Smith and Pheobe Taylor while other standouts were Coffs Harbour's Coco Becker, who won eight gold medals, Harry Campbell, Samuel Gould and Jamie Plunkett.
At the meeting, Myall Lakes MP Stephen Bromhead presented $8000 from the State government for new lane ropes in the main pool.
Bevan and Lucas smash Taree records
Senior swimmers Bevan Smith and Lucas Kloosterhof broke 12 Taree Torpedoes Swimming Club records between them at the Swimming NSW Country Regional Championships meeting in Taree.
The most memorable was Bevan's performance in the 400m individual medley. He took more than one minute off the record set by M Nelson in 1971.
The duo also beat other records by upwards of 11 seconds. Many of these records have stood since the late 1980s.
Club secretary Ian Smith had full confidence they would perform well at the championships.
"I had hoped they would make something of themselves at the meeting, it was pretty exceptional what they did," Ian said.
Bevan swam as an exhibition competitor, given his success at higher levels of competition.