Swimming: Tamworth City Swimming Club opens summer season at Port Macquarie

Tamworth City Swimming Club coach, Nicolas Monet, said there was no pressure on his swimmers to set personal bests or hit specific targets at the meet.

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The important thing, in his eyes, was simply getting them accustomed to competing again after a long winter season.

"They did very well. There was no expectation because it's the first carnival of the summer season," Monet said.

"When you haven't raced in a long time, it's hard to get the rhythm of racing again after a big cycle of training. You just need to race and get those swims in to see where you're at."

10 swimmers from Tamworth City took part in less-than-ideal conditions, particularly on Saturday.

Meanwhile, a contingent of seven swimmers from the Kootingal-Moonbi Swimming Club also participated in the event and produced some "pleasing" results, coach Graham Johnstone said.

"It was the first carnival for the spring and summer, so most were just blowing out the cobwebs," he said.

"But having said that, there were some good PBs as well."

The wet weather did not, however, dampen the swimmers' spirits. After a break from competition during winter, Monet said they were "very much" looking forward to a return to the pool.

"They love to compete, so when you have some time off competition, they were excited to go back into it," he said.

"The winter season is very tricky for us, because we don't really have much pool time so we cannot really work as we do in the summer."

The meet was held at the Port Macquarie War Memorial Olympic Swimming Pool, and served as a long course qualifying event for upcoming state and national competitions.

Over 250 swimmers from across NSW turned out to participate across the two days, and Monet praised the host club for the quality of the event.

"It's a very good carnival, it's very well-organised and we like to go over there," he said.

"They might come to our carnival too, because we have a good relationship with the club there."

Kootingal-Moonbi will hold a Come and Try day on Saturday, October 15, from 1pm to 3pm. The club will then officially start its summer season on Monday, October 17.

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