By Jonathan Leask  January 6 2010

The Ashburton Swim Team has dived straight back into the water in the New Year to get back into shape after the Christmas break with a busy schedule ahead.

The annual training camp being held at the Methven Resort Hotel for the second consecutive year aims to prepare the team for the upcoming championships that lead into the end of the season.

 The camp began on January 2 and will conclude at lunchtime on Sunday January 9.

 “The camp will see the kids do around 15 sessions, that range in distance from 6km up to 9km, so they are looking at doing over 100km,” swim coach Carl Gordon said.

 The 23 senior swimmers attend the camp for the full seven days with the 15 juniors attending from Monday to Friday.

 The location offers the opportunity for the swim team to be able to stay together at an excellent training facility.

 “We all stay at the resort so it’s just a walk down the stairs and straight into the pool,” Gordon said.

 The senior swimmers hit the water from 7am through until 9.30 before the juniors train.

 After a lunch break the juniors are back in the water from 3-4pm before the seniors train from 5.30 until 7pm.

 “We do a little bit of everything. We do endurance work but mix in speed work and mix up the strokes, as well as working specifically on kicking and the stroke itself,” he said.

 All the training isn’t just in the pool. They also participate in dry-land training involving strength and conditioning training, which includes stretches and strength work.

 “When they get out of the pool we do some stretches to work on flexibility and we do sit-ups and use bungee cord.”

 The aim of the camp is to begin the build up to the business end of the swimming season which begins in two weeks time with the Canterbury championships.

 That is then followed by the Eastern District championships and the junior nationals before the age group nationals in March.

 The main event at the end of the season in April that a number of the swim team will be targeting is the open nationals which doubles as the Commonwealth Games trials, of which five of the swim team have already qualified to participate in.

 The hard work they put in over the week at the training camp will go along way to seeing local success on the national stage come season’s end.

Pictured: Hayley Tait (front right) and Adam Tupper share a lane at the Ashburton Swim Team’s annual training camp held at the Methven Resort Hotel. - Photo Sarah Chamberlain 030110-SC-012