2026 Winter Championships Report

42nd Winter Championships, Launceston Aquatic Centre,

13/14 June 2026.

The championships were an enjoyable weekend.  However they were beset with a few issues that had to be overcome.

• We had to revert to 2 time watches per lane for time keeping.  (see the story below).
  
• While the first event was in progress we were informed by pool staff that we could no longer use the starting blocks at the boom end so all starts at that end had to be from the boom deck only. (see comment below)

A special 25m sprint heat has held on Sunday for the gun swimmers to give them a better chance at records.

97 swimmers registered for the meet – including 3 from interstate.
Our thanks should be extended to
.   George Merridew – the Meet Director
.   Ray Brien – the Meet Referee and his team of Technical Officials
.   Pauline Samson – the Recorder who did a champion job reverting to doing all entries to the records system by hand
.   the many other volunteers including the Time Keepers

The Presentation Lunch was held again at the Bowls Club nearby.   A special thanks to the Launceston Lemmings Club for organising and hosting the lunch.    Pauline, our Recorder was the MC.

Congratulations were again extended to John Pugh being recently awarded an OAM for service to swimming.
Click here for the News item on John 

Pauline handed out certificates for  the significant number of records set by Tasmanian swimmers at the National Championships in Brisbane in May      Click here for the report the Nationals

Achievements in the Million Million program for several swimmers were celebrated with merchandise and certificates from National Office.
Certificates for achievement the completion of ALL swims in the  the E1000 program were also handed out to several swimmers.

We then moved to the normal medal presentation for the swim meet.

Club Trophies
The Winter Championships Club Trophy was won by the Launceston Lemmings Club,
Announcement of the  Relay Trophy  ( Summer and Winter Championships combined) will be delayed until the LCLD Championships in August.

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Swimmers of the Meet:-
were Gabrielle Osborne (Hobart Aquatic Club) and Brent Walker (Hobart Aquatic Club)..

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The following Tasmanian  Individual Short Course Records were set

Indie Sarma (TAC)	Women 20-24	. 25m Backstroke, . 25m Butterfly
Fiona Ziegeler (THB)	Women 65-69	. 200m Butterfly
Megan Stronach (THB)	Women 70-74	. 200m Backstroke
Wendy Winzenberg (TVA)	Women 75-79	. 50m Freestyle, . 25m Backstroke . 50m Backstroke . 100m Butterfly
Joshua Wylie (THB)	Men 20-24	. 25m Freestyle
Jim Trihey (TAC)	Men 25-29	. 50m Freestyle
Rick Homan (TDP)	Men 50-54	. 25m  Breaststroke, . 50m  Breaststroke, . 100m Breaststroke . 200m Breaststroke
Brent Walker (TAC)	Men 55-59	. 25m Freestyle, . 200m Butterfly
Gary Donovan (THV)	Men 55-59	. 100m Individual Medley, . 2000m Individual Medley . 400m Individual Medley
Glenn Bryan (TLC)	Men 65-69	. 25m Freestyle
Peter Tucker (THB)	Men 70-74	. 200m Butterfly
Mendelt Tillema (TTL)	Men 75-79	. 200m Individual Medley

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The following Tasmanian Short Course Relay Records were set

Hobart Aquatic Masters (Jennifer Lain, Gabrielle Osborne, Anne Henderson, Donna Rickwood)	Womens 4x50m Medley (200-239)
Hobart Dolphins (Katherine Daft, Mary Cousins, Megan Stronach, Anne Gillian)	Womens 4x50m Medley (280-319)
Huon Valley Masters (Nathan Smith, Gary Donovan, Darby Gielewski, James Belstead)	Mens 4x25m Freestyle (160-199)
Huon Valley Masters (Darby Gielewski, James Belstead, Gary Donovan, Nathan Smith)	Mens 4x50m Medley (160-199)
Hobart Aquatic Masters (Yuki Hasegawa, Matthew Carr, Brent Walker, Tony Forman)	Mens 4x50m Medley (240-279)
Huon Valley Masters (Lara Marmara, Kirilee Shepheard, James Belstead, Darby Gielewski)	Mixed 4x25m Freestyle (100-119)
Huon Valley Masters (Dave Reynolds, Victoria Wilson, Lara Marmara, Jack Wylie)	Mixed 4x25m Medley (100-119)
Huon Valley Masters (Darby Gielewski, James Belstead, Kirilee Shepheard, Heidi van der Reest)	Mixed 4x25m Medley (120-159)

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Results Portal

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Photo Gallery

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Timing system :-   Although the timing pads and AOE system were booked with Swim TAS,  MST learnt at a late stage that the normal operators were not available and they could not provide an alternative.  MST purchased a new system called Time Drops.  However there were set up problems on the Saturday that could not be resolved in time.