ALL ROADS LEAD TO A MEETING AT GYMPIE
THE chance to land personal bests at a recognised meet has driven swimming siblings Holly and Martin Hembling to Gympie – but first they fit in a trip to Sydney.
Holly, 12, and Martin, 9, only started swimming about a year ago and have already started making strides in the pool as they prepare to be the only two Gold Coast competitors at the Gympie Gold Rush swimming meet today, which will be livestreamed at the Gold Coast Bulletin website.
But before the Somerset swimming duo made the trek to Gympie they spent a few days in their former home of Sydney before making the mad dash back to the Sunshine State.
“It was a bit of a challenge to go all the way down there and come back up,” Holly said.
Having previously competed at states for shortcourse swimming, the allure of recording recognised times at a Queensland meet is inspiring Holly’s efforts at Gympie.
The 200m breaststroke specialist has already qualified for the state championships in a week but wants one more chance to improve on her times before taking to the big stage.
“I’m aiming for some more state times because I got some new personal bests that were state times at our school swim carnival,” she said.
“It’s a recognised meet so we’re going up there to do it.”
Martin picked up swimming after seeing his sisters take to the pool and also hopes to outdo himself when he takes to the pool at Gympie today. “I want to try to get more personal bests and swim fast,” he said.
The 50m breaststroke specialist, who hopes to one day attend the national championships, believes swimming is the perfect companion to his other sporting exploits of Aussie rules, running and football.
“It can get you stronger and help your muscles grow.”
While the siblings are chasing their own goals in the pool, don’t expect to see them going head-to-head too often.
“Sometimes (we race each other) but not really,” said Martin. Holly added: “I train more and I’m older.”