British swimmers training on the Gold Coast in Australia have been in action as they get themselves ready for the Queensland State Championships next month.
The group of eight teenage boys at the British Swimming Offshore Centre at Southport School have used events throughout Queensland to get ready for the December Championships.
Chris Alderton (Wear Valley), Richard Charlesworth (Hatfield), Jamie Broom (City of Derby) and Daniel Coombs (Gallica) travelled to Kawana waters to compete in the State Open Water Championships.
Broom triumphed in the 5km swim for the 17-year-olds and Coombs won silver in the 18 years for the same distance. Charlesworth was fastest in the 17-year-old age group for the 10km swim, but was unable to claim gold as he was entered into the open competition, which saw him place fifth just behind teammate Alderton.
Charlesworth and Alderton also competed the following day in the Gold Coast Mile - a 1500m race held in the sea along Broad Beach. After just over 16 minutes of swimming, less than half a second separated first from second but Alderton came out on top in a close race with Charlesworth finishing third.
The British sprint boys competed in the Somerset Gala against some of Australia’s top swimmers such as Olympic Gold Medallist Ashley Callus.
Adam Brown (Hatfield), Chris Fox (Wolverhampton), Marco Loughran (Guildford) and Grant Turner (Tigersharks) competed in many events during the day coming away with some personal best times and valuable experience in racing under major fatigue due to their training loads.
The next competition for the Offshore Centre group will be the Australian World Championship Trials in Brisbane from 3rd to 10th December before the State Championships, also in Brisbane, from 14th to 19th December.
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For further details contact Dave Richards, British Swimming Media Manager, on 01509 632237, 0778 992 6136 or email dave.richards@swimming.org
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain. It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales. (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association) British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.
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