Harden claimed the 2015 Shine Shield on Saturday with an excellent effort put in by the home club, hosting the final round at the Harden War Memorial Pool.
Over 300 participants and spectators descended on the complex on a sunny afternoon.
Harden performed very strongly this year and took out the overall Shine Shield trophy. Yass held the first event on January 13, Jugiong on January 18, with Binalong holding the 3rd of the 4 legs on January 21. Harden went in to the final round with a slight lead and managed to extend their lead on Saturday.
The final point score: 1st Harden 1863, 2nd Binalong 1634, 3rd Yass 1555, 4th Jugiong 1442. The relay point score: 1st Yass 125, 2nd Harden 86, 3rd Jugiong 64, 4th Binalong 48.
Last years final point scores were 1st Binalong 1321, 2nd Harden 1275, 3rd Jugiong 1099, 4th Yass 812.
The results are indicative of the changing nature of the event with particpation levels up on last years competition.
Harden will look to go back to back in 2016, however, the other towns will be chasing hard to claim the 50th anniversary shield.
Next year is a very special year for the Shine Shield as it signals 50 years of competition between the 4 towns. In the next few weeks the committees have planned a meeting to wrap up the current years carnivals and discuss the pros and cons of what worked well this year and what they would like to see next year.
The Shine Shield is a very special competition and plenty of thought will go in to planning the celebrations in 2016.
Karen Glover from Harden said. “It was just fantastic to win the event this year with the last leg held in Harden. Harden held a narrow lead and it was great to claim the win. We are looking forward to next year’s 50th anniversary event” She said “We can’t run an event like this in each town in such a short time, if we didn’t have amazing volunteers like we do. Thanks must go to all of the committee members and the volunteers in each town. All of the towns are looking for new swimmers young and old and next years competition will be no different.”
“The competition is structured in a way that it rewards attendance as well as wining and placing in races. ”
A photo gallery is available on the Twin Town Times Facebook page with all of the action from Saturday.
