KEMPSEY Swimming Club stars Mark Thurgood and Grace Ryan are on their way to Homebush to compete with Australia’s best in their respective age groups.
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For Thurgood, aged 16, it will be his third appearance at the National Age Swimming Championships.
The winner of this year’s Gaol Break ocean swim has selected the 200m butterfly and the 400m freestyle events.
He set a new Kempsey Swimming Club record last month in the 400m freestyle at the NSW?pre-Nationals meeting, as well as in the 1500m freestyle.
Ryan, 18, is a comparative veteran of the ‘Nationals’ and has entered for the 100m butterfly.
She is the Kempsey Swimming Club captain.
Both have earned their spots by virtue of their times over the past year.
The pair’s coach, Tony Hudson said both swimmers had performed really well this season.
“Grace has probably only got to knock off a couple of seconds to reach her peak,”?he said.
“She’ll be up there – she’s ranked about 14th in Australia in that event.
“Mark has been improving about a second at a time.
“He’s really fit and he’ll do PBs?[personal bests] down there, for sure, because he never stops training.
“They made the trials for the Commonwealth Games, but decided just to go to the Nationals.
“I?won’t be at Homebush this time, but I’ll be ringing them up to see how they’ve gone.”
Thurgood is looking forward to swimming in familiar waters at this year’s meeting, from Monday.
“I haven’t gone as well in the past as I’d like to, but hopefully my nerves have settled down a bit now,”?he said.
“I should be a bit more comfortable with it.
“I swim at Homebush all the time.
“I’ve progressed in both events by a few seconds this year, so I’m looking good... hopefully.
“I put in about 20 to 25 hours’ training a week, which is maybe not quite as much as I?should.”
Ryan, who is studying Certificates III and IV in fitness, will compete next Thursday.
“It’s been a good season – I’ve been swimming faster than I have been before, so I’m happy with that,” she said.
“I did all PBs at the NSW?Country titles and was third in the 100m ’fly and second in the 50m ’fly.
“I’m feeling pretty good so far, Tony has helped me a lot with the training.
“I come to the pool about three times a day, each session is about two hours and I?help out with beginners’ boot camps.”
MARGARET Jopling has set a high benchmark for her younger clubmates to emulate.
Competing at the NSW?Masters Swimming Championships, also at Homebush, the 79-year-old brought back five medals from out of a maximum five individual events competitors can enter.
Jopling, who is the treasurer of Kempsey Swimming Club, earned gold over three distances in the backstroke – 50m, 100m and 200m.
She also landed silver in the 50m freestyle, and bronze in the 50m breaststroke.
Competing for the Port Macquarie Masters Club, she also featured in four relay races, helping her team to a silver in one event.
Jopling said the withdrawal of former Olympic swimmer Pam Stevenson had opened the door for her to take gold.
The Macleay swimmer will head to Rockhampton for the Nationals.