Broome Swimmers Shine at Arafura Games!

A group of seven young swimmers from the Broome Barracudas Swimming Club proved beyond doubt that solid training and good technique is key when performing in the Arafura Games in Darwin recently.

More than 2000 athletes from 49 countries competed in 26 sports at Arafura in 2009 including teams from Brunei, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Northern Ireland, Japan, New Caledonia France and a sole entrant from Slovakia (who took home a GOLD medal!)
For 18 years the Arafura Games has been pivotal on focusing attention on emerging athletes, offering them the opportunity to compete in an international competition the like of which occurs nowhere else in the world.

After many months of relentless training encompassing 6 training sessions a week at our local pool, Team Broome performed beyond expectations with five of our swimmers qualifying for finals and the awesome surprise of their 400 Medley Relay Team making the cut for the OPEN mens final! Coming a valiant 8th the Broome boys: Jake Varischetti 13yrs (Backstroke), Elijah Martin 13 yrs (Breaststroke), Chris Rushford 12 yrs (Butterfly) and Joe Handscombe 12 yrs (Freestyle) were cheered home in style by a roaring crowd!

Head Coach Toni Smith and club supporters were extremely proud of all seven swimmers for their hard work and tenacity leading up to the games and the plethora of Personal Bests which were achieved over the course of the games.
“Watching our kids march in to the stadium on the night of the Opening Ceremony behind the West Australian flag was something I will never forget” said Amanda Martin one of the Team Broome parents.
What next? Well its back to following that white line up and down the pool in preparation for the next challenge!

Arafura Games Finalists:

Male 12/under

• 50m breaststroke-Liam Wright-5th place
  
• 100m breaststroke-Liam Wright 5th place
  
• 50m butterfly-Chris Rushford-6th place
  
• 100m butterfly-Chris Rushford-7th place
  
• 200m Individual Medley-Chris Rushford-6th place

Female 13/14yrs-50m breaststroke-

• Shannon Burchard-5th place.

Male 13/14yrs-

• 50m breaststroke- Jake Varischetti-equal 6th place.
  
• 100m breaststroke-Elijah Martin-7th place.