Swimmers from across the region splashed their way into 2020 at Scully Park on Sunday with the Tamworth City Swimming Club hosting their annual carnival.
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The first meet of the year in the New England and North West area, the carnival attracted swimmers from clubs around the area, and as far away as Bathurst and Newcastle.
It was a good day for the Sharks in and out of the water.
The host club was well-represented with 38 swimmers, which coach Nicholas Monet was really happy with.
"At this time of the year that is great," he said.
He was also really pleased with the efforts of the Sharks contingent in the water.
"In term of performance, the young swimmers are improving," he said.
Some are also starting to step up and do some longer races.
"The other swimmers, the performance swimmers, they are working pretty hard at the moment," he said.
They are in a block of heavy training as they prepare for representative meets later in the season.
For a few of the swimmers Sunday was their first carnival, which is always challenging, he said.
"[But] All the swimmers were challenged in different ways," Monet said.
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"Those that it was their first carnival were very nervous, they didn't know what to expect."
For the more seasoned competitors and performance squad members, it was more about testing themselves in different events or back-to-back races, or achieving certain stroke rates or times, either for the full or part of their race.
One of the novel features of the carnival was the super series relay challenge, whereby the fastest 14 boys and 14 girls in their respective age 50m freestyle events are split into seven teams.
To make the races more even, the fastest swimmer is paired up with the 14th qualifier, and so forth.
The focus for the Sharks swimmers now turns to the Gunnedah carnival on Saturday and the Country Regionals at Woy Woy the following weekend.
