Mariners out to defend tri-County title

PICTOU – The Pictou County Mariners will be out to defend their title, in the upcoming Tri-County swim championships on Sunday in Port Hawkesbury.
The Tri-County meet started a number of years ago as a challenge event among swim clubs in Pictou, Antigonish and Richmond Counties, with the Pictou County Mariners, the Antigonish Aquanaughts, and the Port Hawkesbury Thunderbolts being the representing teams from those counties.
In the last number of years, it has been difficult for the Mariners to compete. The title is won by the team with the most points, and with each swimmer contributing to the total points, a team with fewer athletes finds it difficult to compete.
To keep the swimmers energized with their results, the team always measured their “points per swimmer”, and came out on top for many years.
In the 2011-12 season competition, the Mariners were able to send the same numbers of swimmers and posted a narrow victory when they edged the Thunderbolts with 1087 points to 1085.
The Mariners have had three straight years of increased membership and, with this year’s numbers currently at 61 swimmers (competitive and pre-competitive), the team hopes to retain the title with their performance.
The Mariners are off to a busy start of the year, having just completed their introductory week, and the start of their official season, with the first meet having taken place last Sunday at Dalplex.
The Mariners have a vast array of swimmers, ranging from high competitive swimmers competing at East Coast Canadian Championships regularly, along with swimmers striving to obtain or maintain their national swimming time standards, to competitive NovaTech (10 and under) swimmers, and “pre-competitive” swimmers testing the waters, developing into competitive athletes, or simply deciding to maintain a better physical condition.
The Mariners have graduated many swimmers who have gone on to swim on varsity university teams, and is currently grooming others to follow their same course.
Despite the Mariners having completed their initial registration, the club registers members through their 10-month season.
The Mariners swim out of the Pictou Fisheries Training Pool.