Saturday saw the distance events and competitors gained important qualifying times to enter country and state championships.

During the 1,500m event a dust storm progressed across the pool, and in something akin to a surrealist painting, swimmers were surrounded by blue agitated water, and framed by water tinted with orange dust.

Sunday started early with warm-ups from 8am, followed by 7.5 hours of swimming. If it’s not dust, it’s a power failure in the starting mechanism, but quick thinking by volunteers got swimming back on track with mini- mal time lost.

One of Parkes’ most successful swimmers was Khan Jackson, who with plenty of training over the past months managed to secure three seconds and a third out of seven events.

A popular result amongst the Parkes crowd was 7-year old Connie Fryer claiming first in the 25m back stroke.

Other Parkes swimmers performing in a strong field were Anderson Ball who managed two thirds and a second place, William Lamond finished second in the 100m breast stroke, and Peter McIntyre came second in the under 9 years 25m breast stroke.

From amongst the visitors, 13-year-old Francesca Chitukudza representing Kinross Wolaroi placed first in nine of the 15 events she competed in, and second in the others. Her older sister Felicity came first in six events, and their brother Francis was second in six events.

Jameson McGeachie (8) from Mudgee, won five of the six events he entered over 50 and 100m. Tyler Johnson (14) also swam well for the Bathurst club, achieving first or second in all his events.

Many Parkes officials received training at the carnival to enable the club to host a successful carnival on its own in the near future.

The army of volunteers before and after swimming on each day helping to set up and man various positions are to be commended for their efforts. Thanks also to Parkes Shire Council for the wonderful presentation of the pool for the other towns to enjoy.

Parkes Sports Council Chairperson, Alan Gersbach was delighted that more projects had been put forward for selection.

Cr Louise O’Leary, who presides over the Selection Committee was pleased that the projects put forward were a mix of facility and participation projects in sporting or other activities.

Northparkes Managing Director, Hubert Lehman said: “Supporting the Sports Grants Program is one way we can contribute to teams and clubs which do a great job to keep Parkes Shire healthy and happy.”

Stage 2 went to Holy Family who were in dominant form after competing at the Todd Woodbridge Cup earlier in the week. Their final score was 680 points with Parkes Public second on 655 points. Parkes Christian School (563), Parkes East (546) and Middleton (529) all competed hard.

Stage 1 was very close with Holy Family scoring 804 points followed by Parkes East with 799. Parkes Public were on 666 and Parkes Christian School on 663. Middleton finished well to score 538 points for the day.

Parkes High School provided 24 students who were outstanding helpers for both Stage 1 and 2 matches while ex-students Ben Evans, along with Hannah and Phoebe Potts, were integral to the success of the day.

Thank you to all the schools who continue to support this event. The enthusiasm and smiles throughout the day from children and their families were priceless and makes sporting interactions so vital to lift community spirit across regional Australia.

By Helen Magill

The Sailing Club was very accommodating and offered the PDBC the use of their club house, which was a great bonus for the Parkes members.

“We really appreciated the help of the Sail- ing Club, and Barbara Nilsson was lovely to deal with,” said Louise.

“It was a lot of fun,” the members agreed. The club has two training sessions per week on Thursday and Sunday at Lake Endeavour. Contact 0418 253 045 if you would like to come for a try out session.