The Cooktown Amateur Swimming Club was well represented at the Dimbulah Swim Club meet earlier this month.
COOKTOWN tadpole Maiika Hegamaea has blitzed a Far North record time at the recent Dimbulah Swim Club meet and brought home six first place ribbons to add to her collection.
The seven-year-old has been a confident swimmer since she was a toddler and has been a member of the Cooktown Amateur Swimming Club since she was four.
“She is always quite nervous competing against older children in her races, but always finishes with a smile,” proud mum and swim club president Melissa Gunton said.
“As a club we are all very proud of her achievements and this just shows that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”
Maiika joined the 32-strong Cooktown swim squad at the Dimbulah Swim Club Long Course Preparation Meet, with most members smashing personal bests and gaining places.
Swim star Maiika Hegamaea.
“This is one of our favourite meets as it has the country, laid-back feel to it and everyone is friendly and welcoming,” Ms Gunton said.
“The 50m pool can be quite challenging as we train in 25m but they all seem to adapt well.”
Cooktown had the biggest team out of the 123 competitors at the meet, with most tadpole and junior members swimming up to four events and seniors up to five each.
Maiika came first in the 50m freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke and 100m freestyle and breaststroke and now holds the seven-year-old girls’ Far North 100m breaststroke record time of 2.20.08.
Other winners at Dimbulah included Maia Pensio, who was first in the 10-year-old boys’ 50m butterfly, freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke, as well as the 100m breaststroke. Chase Hunt came first in 10-year-old boys’ 100m backstroke.
In the 11-year-old girls, Haila Hegamaea was first in 50m freestyle and 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, while in the boys, Cruze Ryder was first in 100m backstroke.
In the 12-years-boys, Rudi Habermann came first in 100m backstroke and Carrick Macmillan was first in 100m breaststroke.
Mali Cooper finished first in the 13-year-old girls’ 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly and 100m freestyle. Jett Ryder was first in the boys’ 50m freestyle, butterfly and backstroke and 100m freestyle and backstroke.
In the 14-year-old girls, Georgia Macmillan was first in 50m backstroke, while Lakea Hegamaea came first in 50m and 100m breaststroke.
Samuel Ryder came first in the 50m freestyle, backstroke and butterfly and 100m breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly and 200m freestyle for 15-year-old boys.
