Dargaville hosts Northland champs

For the first time in five years, the Douglas Logging Swimming Northland Age Group Championships will be contested using the long-course format, at Dargaville Swimming Pool.
More than 205 swimmers will meet for the three-day annual championships, which start tonight at the outdoor 50m pool.
Swimming Northland publicity officer Brent Eastwood said the return to the long-course format had the region's and visiting competitors excited - particularly because the Northland age groups championships is one of the last opportunities for swimmers to qualify for the upcoming New Zealand Junior Championships and the New Zealand age groups.
"It's better for swimmers to be competing at a big meet like this in a 50m pool - that is what they will be swimming in at nationals," he said.
He added that long-course Northland records would most likely be severely challenged at the championships.
"Because the last five age groups had been swum in 25m pools, the up-and-coming swimmers haven't had the chance to break any long-course records."
Bay of Islands' Carla Marsh, Northwave's Melita Raravula, Bream Bay's Hayley Jensen and Whangarei's Kadince Christensen each have times ranked ahead of several of the existing race records, so they should reset the record books if all goes according to plan.
Last year, 28 Northland swimmers qualified for the NZ Juniors (12 and under), while a further 15 qualified for the NZ Age Groups.
Many of the region's swimmers are hoping to better the rigid entry times to qualify for national events, Eastwood said.
"We should get a similar number to last year of swimmers qualifying for both Juniors - which are on February 19-20 in Auckland and Wellington, and for the NZ Age Groups - from March 1-5 in Christchurch ... it is quite tough to swim the times required for these meets."
After opening early last year, the Dargaville Swimming Pool has hosted a couple of carnivals, including the Northland Long Distance Championships in November and the Dargaville Club Carnival earlier this month.
Swimming Northland is looking forward to establishing the pool as its headquarters.
"Everything went really smoothly - there's a big grass embankment for spectators to watch. We are looking forward to holding the champs there," Eastwood said.
Session one of the meet kicks off tonight at 5pm and racing resumes tomorrow at 9am, followed by a second session starting at 5pm.
On Sunday, session one starts at 9am and the final session of the championships begins at 4pm.
The 50m, 200m and 400m events are all timed finals, while the 100m events have heats - held tonight and tomorrow morning, followed by the finals tomorrow night, and in both sessions on Sunday.
Also during the final session on Sunday, the Crawford Woodman Trophy will be contested between 14 Northland clubs taking part in the age groups.
It is a 400m relay (8x50m) where clubs have one female and one male each chosen to compete from the Under-12, 12-13 years, 14-15 years and 16 and over age groups.
"I guess it shows the all round depth of a club and from the seedings it looks like Bream Bay and Whangarei Swimming Clubs will be fighting it out for the win," Eastwood said.
Swimmers from Northland and Waikato will be competing over the weekend, with Auckland swimmers notably absent.
This is mostly due to a tight 2011 swimming event calendar - most Auckland swimmers will be set to compete at the Auckland Closed Championships looming at the end of the month, Eastwood said.