Saturday – 10:00am (Session 1)

Saturday – 5:00pm (Session 2)

Sunday – 10:00am

BLACK SANDS Time Trials – December 2017

The St Vincent and the Grenadines Swimming Federation (SVGSF) is pleased to announce our three major hosted swim competitions for 2018. They are as follows:

• The CGM Invitational Swimming Championships – Friday, February 16^th to Sunday, February 18^th, 2018 – Sponsored by CGM Gallagher Insurance brokers
• The FLOW Invitational Swimming Championships – Friday, August 17^th to Sunday, August, 19^th, 2018 – Sponsored by FLOW
• The SAC Sprint Challenge – tentatively scheduled for October 5^th and 6^th, 2018

Golds Galore, Overall Championship and SVG records for SVG swimmer at Thunderbolts Grand Prix in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada – May 26th – 28th, 2017

St Vincent and the Grenadines swimmer Alexander Joachim competed at 2017 Thunderbolts May Grand Prix Swimming Championships held at the Canada Games Complex in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada from May 26th to 28th, 2017.More

Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada – March 2nd – 5th, 2017

Two of St Vincent and the Grenadines best young swimmers competed at the Prairie Winter International (PWI) Swimming Championships held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from March 2nd to 5th, 2017. The PWI Championships were very competitive with over 550 of the best swimmers from all over Canada and more than 30 Swim clubs represented.

SVG’s CARIFTA record holder and Caribbean Island Swimming Champion Shné Joachim represented her current Canadian swim club, Oakville Aquatics. Shné’s younger brother, Alex, represented local SVG club Black Sands Swim Squad (BSSS). Alex is the only male Vincentian swimmer to be a multiple medallist at CARIFTA and also a multiple medallist at the Caribbean Championships. While both swimmers performed well at this high level meet, it was Alex’s turn to outshine his more famous sister.

Thirteen year-old Alex not only brought home 7 medals but he also proved to be among the best swimmers at his age in North America. Several of Alex’s times were in the top 10 performances for his age in the USA and Canada. Alex was in the top 3 in 7 of his 8 races. He won 3 Gold medals, 3 Silver medals and 1 Bronze medal. Alexander’s individual results were:

· 50 meter Breaststroke – Gold medal; 34.41 seconds.

· 100 meter Butterfly – Gold medal; 1 minute, 5.44 seconds – Personal Best (PB) time.

· 50 meter Butterfly – Gold medal; 28.96 seconds – PB time and matched the best time of a 13 year-old in Canada.

· 200 meter Butterfly – Silver medal; 2 minutes, 29.22 seconds – PB time.

· 100 meter Breaststroke – Silver medal; 1 minute 17.41 seconds.

· 200 meter Breaststroke – Silver medal; 2 minutes, 49.13 seconds.

· 200 meter Individual Medley – Bronze medal; 2 minutes, 29.43 seconds – PB time.

· 50 meter Backstroke – 4th Place; 34.24 seconds.

Alex 16 year-old sister, Shné, swimming in her favourite 50 meter Breaststroke, won Gold in a cracking 33.33 seconds. This time was the second fastest in Canada for a 16 year-old. Shné is recovering from a knee injury and this performance shows she is making good progress as she tries to get ready for the upcoming CARIFTA Swimming Championships.

Black Sands Swim Squad (BSSS) and SVG National swim coach Kyle Dougan was pleased but not surprised at the fine performances of both Alex and Shné. Kyle said, “Alex is an exceptional young man who works hard and is very focused. He is a fine example to all my other young athletes. I have seen Alex’s Vincentian record breaking performances at CARIFTA and the Caribbean Swimming Championships last year and I hope one day he will be duly recognized for his historical sporting achievements that as far as I am aware are unmatched in SVG at his young age. Alex can compete with swimmers at his age from across the world. It will be a pleasure to see him develop. Shné is such an amazing natural talent and I am not surprised at her continued success.”

Both Shné and Alex will be part of the SVG National swim team competing at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships in the Bahamas in April. They will be joined by our Olympian swimmer Nikolas Sylvester, Aaron Defreitas, Bryson George and Mya Defreitas. We are confident that they will all try their very best.

The SVG Swimming Federation offers our thanks and appreciation to Coach Kyle for his dedication and commitment to all our young athletes and we look forward to his and their continued success. President of the SVGSF, Stephen Joachim said “I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the success of swimming in SVG is a team effort and Coach Kyle is a massive part of that team effort”. He also noted “we are seeing increasing numbers of high performance young athletes from SVG. Shane Cadogan, our only other male medallist at the Caribbean Swimming Championships, and Cruz Halbich are unavailable for CARIFTA due to exam commitments. The future stars including Kennice Greene, Jayson Sandy and Eltonte Leonard will soon be ready to make their debuts at the Caribbean level. It is truly amazing to see the progress being made in SVG swimming. Special thanks to coaches Neisha Alexander and Rickydene Alexander who quietly contribute to developing our young talent”.

The 26^th Annual OECS Swimming Championships were hosted by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Swimming Federation at the Shrewsbury Aquatic Centre (SAC) for the first time from November 10^th to 13^th inclusive. This year the Championships featured over 180 swimmers from Antigua & Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Martinique, St Lucia and SVG. St Martin (French) and Sint Maarten (Dutch) also competed this year as guest team. This is the first year Martinique entered as a competitive team. With all of these participants, the result was the largest ever OECS Swimming Championships.
The event was a tremendous success despite torrential rains on the first two days. The pool championship was retained by Grenada while Antigua stepped up to second place and St Lucia slipped to third this year. At this stage in our swimming development, SVG simply does not have the depth of swimmers to compete for the team championships and we are at least four years away from being in a position to compete for the overall team championship.
SVG continues to improve in both points attained and in the individual age group competitions. We had some outstanding individual performances. SVG won a total of 49 medals versus our previous best last year of 33. Nine different SVG swimmers were able to win medals this year. Both of those figures are best ever figures for SVG swimming; illustrating continued improvement, effort and talent or skill development in different swimmers.
The Open Water (ocean) swimming component of the Championships event was held on Villa beach on Sunday morning and comprised of a 5K race. Cruz Halbich of SVG retained the overall (and the age group13-15) Championship which he won last year by placing first in a time of 1 hour, 11 minutes and 49 seconds. He was followed in second place by a margin of 6 seconds by Antiguan Sabastien Gobinet. Tyrell Raguette of SVG was third overall (and first in the men 16 to 17 age group) in a time of 1 hour, 13 minutes and 49 seconds. The Girls champion came from Taffi Illis of Sint Marteen swimming in the 13 to 15 age group in a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes and 35 seconds. She was followed by Antiguan Joie Zriebe in second.
 
In the pool competition we saw the following significant performances from Vincentian swimmers:

• Our Caribbean Gold medalist and CARIFTA record holder, Shné Joachim, returned from school in Canada for the weekend and despite not being at 100% fitness she won seven of her nine races, broke 5 OECS records and tied a sixth record. At the swimming age of 15, Shne also walked away with the overall championship in the girls 15 to 17 age group. Shné swam against several CARIFTA swimmers in her age group.
• Alex Joachim, also a multiple Caribbean and CARIFTA medallist, won 3 Gold medals, 7 silvers and 1 bronze. Alex placed second in the boys 11 to 12 age group behind Jenebi Benoit of Grenada.
• Kennice Greene was outstanding in the girls 8 & Under category and grabbed 2 gold medals, 3 silvers and 1 bronze while placing a very close second in the overall championship for her age group.
• Mya Defreitas was tremendous in winning 2 gold medals in the 200 and 400 meter freestyle races in the girls 9 to 10 age group.
• Our male Olympic swimmer, Nikolas Sylvester, won gold in his strongest race (50 meter Breaststroke) while adding 2 bronze medals in the 50 Freestyle and 100 meter Breaststroke events for the boys 15 to 17 age.
• The boys age 10 and Under relay team brought us Gold in the 200 meter freestyle race. This team comprised Tavonte Forde, Jayson Sandy, Tristan Ballah and Eltonté Leonard.
• Our Caribbean medal winner, Shane Cadogan, swimming in the boys age 13 to 14 group, won 3 silver medals in the 50 meter Freestyle, 50 meter Breaststroke and 100 meter Breaststroke events. Shane’s age group featured several CARIFTA swimmers from Martinque and he finished second in the overall championship for his age group.
• Tavonte Forde swam in the boys age 9 to 10 category and was the surprise of the meet when he won 4 bronze medals in his first OECS swimming championships.
• Other SVG medals winners included a silver for Tristan Ballah, silver for Jamie Joachim and bronze for Eltonte Leonard. Gerard Geowarsingh swam in men age 18 & over and brought us 1 silver and 3 bronze medals.
• Our Girls 10 & Under, Boys age 11 to 14 and Boys 15 & Over each won a bronze medal in the 200 freestyle relay events.

The SVGSF also took this opportunity to hold its 1.5 kilometer open water national championships at the same time as the OECS Open Water 5 kilometer race. Mya Defrietas represented Black Sands Swim Squad and was outstanding in continuing her brilliant swimming from the pool longer distance events. Mya, swimming as a 10 year old, completed the race in an amazing 24 minutes and 49 seconds. Very few swimmers were faster than Mya with one being her 14 year-old brother Aaron who won Gold in the 13 to 14 age group in 23 minutes and 50 seconds and another was Kenus Tally of Bequia United Swim Club (BUSC) who took home the Gold in 24 minutes and 24 seconds in the Boys 15 to 17 age group. Sinke Micah and Emma Marshall of St Martin won gold medals in the Girls 11 to 12 and 13 to 14 age groups respectively. Tavonte Forde of BUSC took the Gold in the Boys 9 to 10 age group and Kenale Alleyne of Blue Marlins Swim Club won Gold in the Boys 11 to 12 age group. Kara Randall of BUSC won the women age 26 & over age group while SVGSF President Stephen Joachim, representing the old folks, took Gold in the Mens 26 & Over category in a time of 33 minutes and 58 seconds.
Hosting an event such as the OECS Swimming Championships is an expensive proposition and the SVGSF wishes to express our appreciation to our major supporters including FLOW, CGM Gallagher Insurance Brokers, Scotiabank, the National Lottery and the SVG Olympic Committee. Without this support we would be unable to host this event.
The President of the SVGSF stated that “these championships were an incredible success in large part because of the volunteers and officials who sacrificed innumerable days and hours in the months leading up to the event. It was a great opportunity to demonstrate how well SVG can host a major regional sporting event”. He further stated that “the hosting of these Championships brought significant revenues into the island economy and provided a chance for visitors to see our island. The friendships developed by these young athletes will in many cases last a lifetime and certainly many fond memories will be had.”
 
 

Complete Results 26th Annual OECS Swimming Championships Click to Download

26th Annual OECS Swimming Championships – SVG swimmers’ Results Click to Download

Summary
Pool Competition: November 10^th – 12^th, 2016

• VENUE:
  • Shrewsbury Aquatic Centre, Ratho Mill, St Vincent & the Grenadines

Open Water Competition: November 13^th, 2016

• VENUE:
  • Buccament Bay Resort, Villa

 
SCHEDULE

• Wednesday 9th November:
• Arrival of teams

• Thursday 10^th November (Day1):
• Warm up 3:30 – 4:50pm
• Technical Meeting SW & OW- 3:00 p.m. (Shrewsbury Aquatic Centre)
• Competition Starts 5:00 p.m.
• Opening Ceremony 6:30 p.m.
• Relays – 7:00 p.m

• Friday 11th November (Day 2):
• Warm-up: 8:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.
• Competition Starts 10:00 a.m.

• Saturday 12th November (Day 3):
• Warm-Up: 8:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.
• Competition Starts – 10:00 a.m.
• Awards and closing of pool event: following completion of pool competition
• E.C.S. Congress: Following the Awards ceremony. (SAC)
• Social Event – Paradise Beach Hotel (Time to be announced)

• Sunday 13th November (Day 4):
• Medical Check – 8:15am
• Open Water Registration completion – 8:15 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
• Competition Starts – 9:30 a.m.
• Awards and Closing Ceremony – Following the completion of the Open Water events.

• Monday 14th November:
• Departure of Teams

The 26th OECS Swimming Championship – Participating Countries and Athletes