Hosted by the Bathurst City Amateur Swim Club, nine-year-old Oliver Hamer qualified for the 50 metre freestyle event and 14-year-old Bridget Warne qualified for the 100 metre breaststroke event. 

Overall, more than 200 competitors competed at the Bathurst qualifying event, with more than 50 swimmers coming from the Bathurst club alone. 

Club publicity officer Meredith Caddis said the qualification results by Hamer and Warne was exciting.

“It was very exciting to see them qualify,” she said.

“They’ve been working towards this all summer and it was the second last event they had the chance to qualifying for the NSW Country Championships.

“We’ve got about half a dozen [Bathurst] swimmers qualified for the championships now.” 

It was also the first time a host of new swimmers competed at there first carnival.

Six-year-old Tom Hamer came first in all of his three 25 metre events.

Ten-year-old Jasmine Howard finished second in her butterfly swim.

Patrick O’Hara finished first in seven of his events and the 12-year-old then finished second in the boys 200 metre breaststroke.

Twelve-year-old Jacob Roffe saw a huge improvement on his personal best, with a 7.38 seconds wiped off his 400 metre freestyle best. 

Caddis said it was really good to see so many new swimmers step on in the carnival, as many of the club’s swimming coaches were on hand to watch their students compete. 

“We had nine new swimmers compete. It was the first time they’ve competed in a carnival like this and they are fairly new numbers,” she said.

“It day was a huge success. It ran smoothly with all events on time.

“We’re happy with the performance from our swimmers. Placings are important but PBs and qualifying times are just as important too.

“Overall it was a great day with lots of support from other clubs from the region and from across Sydney. They came from Young, St Marys, Orange, Grenfell and Mudgee.” 

With temperatures pushing 37 degrees, swimmers were keen to stay in the pool for as long as possible.

“They were pretty happy to be swimming,” Caddis said.

“There swimming was incredible considering the conditions.” 

This year’s NSW Country Championships will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park on February 23 to 25. 

The event is expected to attracted hundred of swimmers from right across the state.