For two Powell River swimmers, training for winter long course swimming championships has meant being a part of Qualicum Beach Winter Club Ravensong Swim Team.
During the off-season, residents could find Nathaniel Hees and Jakob Brager practicing at Powell River Recreation Complex pool at 6:30 am before attending Westview Elementary School. They have been coached locally by Brager’s father.
From September to early June the boys and their parents travelled to Vancouver Island to attend highly competitive swim meets for the Ravensong Winter Club. In addition to practicing in Powell River, the boys also travelled to the island to attend grueling early morning swim team weekend practices. During these practices they would swim an average of 4,600 metres. As May rolled around the boys became competitive swimmers with the local Powell River Aquatic Swim Club, which is a team of the BC Summer Swim Association.
Recently, the Vancouver Island Regional Long Course Championships were held in Nanaimo. Both Hees and Brager recorded impressive results.
Hees swam 100-metre breaststroke at 1:52:48 and placed eighth in the finals. In 200-metre individual medley he took 5.61 seconds off his own personal best to make 3:12:37 and again placed eighth in finals. In the 100-metre butterfly he took off three seconds, made his AAA (Swim BC) time, and is currently 27th in the province for 11-year-old boys.
Brager swam 100-metre backstroke and dropped four seconds, getting his AAA time, and placed fourth in finals. With that result, he is now ranked 20th in the province in the 11-year-old boys category. In 200-metre backstroke he placed third, brought home a bronze medal, and is 15th in the province for his age category. He also swam 200 metres freestyle, dropped three seconds, got his AAA time, and is 28th in the province for his age.
Both boys swam the 400-metre freestyle, both achieved their AAA time, and now Hees sits 24th and Brager 12th in the province for 11-year-old boys.
With these results, both boys have qualified to participate in the AAA Provincial Long Course Championships to be held in Victoria in July.
