Orange's short course swim carnival has made its triumphant return under the a different banner - this one belonging to Orange Aquatic Club.
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Continuing to fly the flag of the now-dissolved Jets Swim Club, the new club took on the mantle of hosting one of the biggest short course carnivals this side of the Blue Mountains this weekend.
More than 300 swimmers took to the pool at Orange Aquatic Centre over the weekend from 28 clubs all across the state, with the longer races for older swimmers on Saturday afternoon and events taking place from 9am on Sunday.
Seven of those 28 clubs came form Sydney, including PLC Sydney and Knox Pymble, bringing a new level of competition to the Orange carnival.
We'd like to thank Orange Aquatic Centre and Orange City Council were bending over backwards for us.
- Michael Thornhill
Orange Aquatic Club president Michael Thornhill said the quality was higher this year than previously, not just from those new clubs but the timing of this year's carnival allowed swimmers who had been tied up at national competitions in former iterations, such as Kinross gun Collette Lyons, to swim.
Lyons was one local to make a splash in the pool, of no surprise to anyone who's followed her journey over the past few years, while Orange Aquatic Club's Kingston Johnston also claimed plenty of accolades.
City of Orange Swim Club gun Francesca Chitukudza also took home a large haul of places and prizemoney, while Kinross was well represented by Ethan Crisp and Brandon Fraser.
The carnival doesn't keep each club's tally of results, but Thornhill said all the Orange clubs had done well across 63 races and countless heats.
Thornhill said the event was increasing in popularity, and its timing at the very start of the opening of the short course season - using 25 metre pools - meant swimmers from all across the state were increasingly queuing up to come to Orange.
Competitions such as the short course swim carnival have also moved towards using more prizemoney instead of trophies, with the club handing out a smidge over $4000 in cash to the top swimmers over the weekend.
The next local event will be the Mountains and Plains swimming carnival, which was held in Orange last year but moves to Bathurst this June, while more events will crop up from July onwards across the region.
Thornhill thanked both the Orange Aquatic Centre and Orange City Council for "bending over backwards" to help set up and run the carnival over the weekend.
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