Cup win for Stratford swimmers

18th February 2010

STRATFORD Swimming Club had great success at the Swimming Taranaki Club Relays held at the New Plymouth 50m outdoor pool last Friday night.
The team of eight swimmer’s took out the Durning Trophy Relay, which consisted of one boy and one girl from each age group (9 & under, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15), which was swum youngest to oldest.  They started the race strong and held an impressive lead throughout the race, finishing with a time of 4:25.40, a second off the record set in 1994. 
The whole event was even more special for the club’s anchor swimmer, Brooke Wells, as she was presented with the Durning Trophy, by her grandfather, Tubby Durning and medals by her father, John Durning. 
Tubby Durning originally was a swimming coach in Taranaki and he wanted to see all age groups of boys and girls competing together in a relay, so he donated a trophy in 1969 for this purpose Now, 41 years on, due to wear and tear, the Durning Trophy has been replaced by the family. 
The club also had success in the girls 6 x 100m freestyle relay, receiving the bronze medal and the boys team also received bronze medals in both the 4 x 50 medley relay and the 4 x 50 freestyle relay.
Earlier in the evening Matthew Anderson broke the Taranaki 10-11 boys 800m LC record, with a time of 10:49.68, taking nearly 9 seconds off the previous record set by Scott Carr, also from Stratford, in 2004.