Eight members of Bellingen Diggers swimming club attended the Far North Coast zone swimming championships in Grafton on Saturday November 25.
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Six of the eight attained podium finishes in their respective age championship freestyle sprints.
Jim Baird, Helen Trist, Sonja Beukers and Alli Bloomquist all won their championship race with Peter Allison gaining a second placing and Amanda Vockler a third.
It was Jim's first ever win and Helen and Alli's first ever carnival.
The 4 x 50m 40yrs+ medley handicap relay team comprising Helen Trist (backstroke), Anne Taylor (breaststroke), Sonja Beukers (fly) and Peter Allison (freestyle) stormed home to win narrowly from the strong Southport and Twin Towns teams.
Allis and Sonja came third in the women's brace relay and Paul Sheridan and Peter Allison finished fourth in the men's.
The 10 x 50m handicap relay consisting of Amanda, Helen, Anne, Alli, Sonja, Paul, Jim and Peter (plus two Grafton swimmers) came within five seconds of a perfect race time to finish just outside a minor placing.
Jim Baird made the final of the 30m handicap event and Amanda Vockler the 50m handicap, where she took out third place. This was a commendable effort by both swimmers.
Bellingen finished fourth in the overall point score behind the big clubs Twin Towns, Southport and Grafton but outscored Nerang, Lismore and Ballina.
The club sincerely thanks Warren Taylor for his time keeping throughout the entire carnival and club captain Paul Sheridan for his organisation.