The Panathlon Swimming Competition involved local schools in Kent for the first time today at Tonbridge Swimming Pool. This competition was organised with Tonbridge and West Kent SSP and was a pilot event, to test out this competition format for Kent Schools and was made possible with support from the Charles Harris Academy.We started with Individual Races, where the swimmers competed in 2 Length Freestyle races & then 4 Width Races, some of the races with the use of floats. After the Individual races, 5 Acre Wood were leading, with 18 points, with Broomhill Bank only 3 points behind with 15 points.The Team Challenges saw swimmers take part in push and glide, treasure hunt, the water polo target game & finishing with the raft race.
All swimmers particularly enjoyed these challenges, with the Treasure Hunt and Raft Race being the most popular.Broomhill Bank Team just edged the Team Challenges though not by a large enough margin to overhaul 5 Acre Woods early advantage. Broomhill Bank finished a gallant 2nd, only 1 point behind with 29 to the winning score of 30 points. 5 Acre Wood therefore received their gold medals and were crowded Kent Swimming Champions for the first time.
Charlotte Twydell, School Games Organiser said, “The Panathlon Swimming Challenge was a fantastic event for all the school pupils who took part. The variation of challenges and structure to the event allowed every pupil to have success and gain confidence from swimming in the pool. I look forward to working with Panathlon again in the future and developing more events for the special schools in our area.”
