The final instalment of the 2022/23 Shine Shield season was held last Sunday, 22nd January, at the Harden Swimming Pool, with Binalong taking out the Shine Shield and Relay championships.
For more than 60 years the towns of Binalong, Boorowa, Harden, Jugiong and Yass as well as Boorowa at times have embraced community spirit to host Shine Shield swim events, have fun and tussle it out in a friendly way for the highest point score of the season.
The Shine Shield is a family-focused event with everyone encouraged to have a go. There are individual and relay events and age groups from under 8s to over 40s.
Swimmers choose events to swim on the day and earn points for their town. Fast or slow, young or old, everyone is welcome. Points accumulate across each Shine Shield event.
The town with the highest total points is crowned the Shine Shield winner at the end of the season’s events.
The 2023 Shine Shield is slightly modified, consisting of three events, with Jugiong and Boorowa unfortunately unable to hold an event this season. The Shine Shield made a return in 2023 after three years disrupted by the impacts of Covid and the poor air quality after the 2019/2020 bushfires. Shine Shield Committee Member Georgie Loiterton spoke with The Times following the completion of this season’s Shine Shield.
“This year was the first year that it’s run since 2019. We didn’t really know what to expect getting it off the ground. “Because it’s been running for so long, for over 60 years, we hoped that is still had the traction to keep going even after Covid and the bushfires.
“We put it out to the towns to see if everyone was still keen, unfortunately, we didn’t get a carnival at Jugiong or Boorowa this season which was a little bit disappointing, but in particular smaller communities, it can be a little harder to get things going after that hiatus.
“I know with our Swimming Club in Harden, numbers have dropped off the last couple of years and I think we can attribute that to Covid. People are still getting back into the swing of things.
“We sort of just ran it as we have in the past and did a see what happens if people are still keen and the communities are still onboard. It was great to see Harden, Binalong and Yass get their carnivals going.”
Georgie mentioned that while still getting a good turnout at this year’s Shine Shield, she admitted that numbers have dropped from previous seasons. “We had around 50 swimmers at each carnival, so the numbers have definitely dropped over the years.
10 years ago, we would’ve had 150 swimmers at each,” she said. In saying that, the vibe was still the same, the atmosphere was still exactly the same as it had been. We even made comments about that on Sunday, the weather wasn’t in our favour, we didn’t have a huge amount of swimmers, but it was a really fun day.
“That’s the important thing, we can always push for more numbers, but the biggest thing about the Shine Shield was that it’s always been about just a fun community event for everyone to be a part of, you didn’t have to be a record-breaking summer, you didn’t even have to be part of a swimming club.
“It was created for kids to have something to do in the holidays, to just show up and have fun and earns points for their town and to do their best. It’s nice to see that same ethos that started it all 60 years ago hasn’t changed.”
Binalong held their carnival for this year’s Shine Shield last year on December 18th, while Yass held theirs on January 7th earlier this month. Georgie also highlighted that the Shine Shield Committee are looking for ways to improve the event for future years and welcomes any feedback from the public.
“The goal now is to see what we need to change and take on board to get the numbers back and to get people coming even more so it can keep going as long as possible,” she said.
“The points scores have always worked off a handicap system. 10-20 years ago, as Yass is a much bigger town than Jugiong and Binalong, that was always taken into account. “We still run that handicap system, but as we run into the 2023/24 season, we’ll probably look at revisiting that just to make it a bit more of an even playing field.
“We noticed 10 years ago that Yass would bring 50-60 swimmers and Binalong would bring 15. The handicap system was put in place to make it more even. “But what we’ve noticed now is that the towns are kind of bringing similar numbers.
The committee that organises the Shine Shield will meet and discuss the handicap system as we head into the next season. “We’ll look at ways on what we need to change as we head into next season.
A few people have inquired about it, and it will be revisited. “We will be taking onboard any feedback and changes for what we can do to make the event more appealing and exciting for the community.
“If anyone has any great ideas or would like to be a part of the Shine Shield Committee, we are always looking for enthusiastic people who can lend a hand.” Shine Shield: 1st- Binalong 1052 2nd- Harden 803 3rd- Jugiong 580 4th- Yass 533 5th- Boorowa 400
Relay: 1st- Binalong 98 2nd- Jugiong 70 3rd- Harden 66 4th- Boorowa 59 5th- Yass 34
Well done to all competitors in this season’s Shine Shield.
Tim Warren
