IT was a sigh of relief for some of Saint Lucia’s swimmers when competitive swimming finally returned to the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre (RHAC) in Gros Islet. On Thursday 20th August 2020, the SeaJays Swim Club (SSC) made a bold move when they hosted their fourth annual intramural meet with all Covid -19 protocols in place.
The club was divided into two teams to compete against each other using its official colours White versus Blue. The Blue team coached by John McLennon emerged champion with 169 points, 23 points clear of the White team (146).
A total of 27 members participated in this the first competition held at the RHAC since Covid -19 hit Saint Lucia in March 2020.
The last competitive event held at that facility was the annual Independence Day Swimming Classic on Sunday 1st March.
The members have been training since swimming resumed in June. The enthusiastic swimmers were motivated to improve their times even during such a short training period.
The 90-minute showpiece saw the various athletes compete in all strokes (freestyle; backstroke; breaststroke; butterfly) 50 metres; 100 metres; 200 Individual Medley and 25 metres events for the 7 and under. Also competiting were the 11 and under/ 12-13/ 14-15 and 17 age group.
Some of the participants included Tristan Dorville, Caitlin Polius, Shaquil Flavius, Nathan Vigier, Kenai D’Auvergne, D’Andre Vigier, Noah Dorville, Omar Gabriel, James Sylvester, Jonas Silvester, Maxime Larrieu, Damari Maxwell, and Malik Peter, just to name a few.
Meanwhile, the Lightning Aquatics Swim Club’s (LA) wheels are in motion as they continue their planning to host their annual awards.
According to Tessa Charles-Louis, Club President, “Just to boost our swimmers’ spirits, we were supposed to host our 2019 awards early in the year. With the Covid-19 shutdown, curfew and State of Emergency, we had no choice but to put it off. There is some normalcy returning so the event will take place in early September”.
“The idea is to celebrate the achievements of our athletes for 2019 and to help boost their spirts ahead of the new school year and with swimming not back one hundred percent,” she noted.
In terms of the annual LA Swim meet dubbed “Carnival Relay” Tessa said, “I don’t think we will be staging it this year. Our date was scheduled for June 1st, and that has gone. Cost wise, it takes a lot to put on an event like this and with everybody feeling the financial crunch, I really don’t see us pulling it off”.
