Karratha beats Hedland in swim-off

The Karratha Dolphins were victorious over the Hedland Sharks in the first friendly interclub swimming competition to be held at South Hedland Aquatic Centre in more than three years.

The event, which saw more than 800 patrons attend SHAC on Saturday, was hailed as a successful social event by both clubs.

Hedland Amateur Swimming Club president Patrik Mellberg said he invited the Dolphins to town to give Hedland-based swimmers a bit of variety and to introduce some of the youngsters to competitive swimming.

"We are hoping to hold an interclub friendly twice a year between the HASC and Karratha," he said.

"We will have one of the events here at SHAC and are planning to hold the next event at the Karratha Leisureplex."

Both clubs fielded large teams, with the Dolphins arriving with about 25 competitors aged seven to 44, and the Sharks presenting with an impressive 50 swimmers aged from nine to 16 years.

Participants competed in a range of events, including the obligatory freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke events, with the youngest contenders looking strong over 25 metres.

SHAC acting manager Karen Lovejoy said she was excited to see the competition come together, especially because SHAC staff had been working tirelessly to get the grounds ready for the day.

"We are thrilled to have gotten the shade up in time - as it's been down for two weeks since we were last on blue alert," she said.

"We modified the dive bowl today so the competitors could utilise it as a warm-up pool, for a first-time event it was very well organised."

The next big challenge for the Hedland Sharks is the North West Open, to be hosted in Karratha at the end of March.