The Portland Swimming Club travelled to Hamilton Sunday 28 June, with 14 club swimmers and three encouragement swimmers competing at the Hamilton Olympic Swimming Club’s (HOSC) first meet of the 2026 Short Course Winter Series.

Our team made a huge splash, competing in 60 individual events and six relay teams. Portland swimmers brought home an impressive 18 Firsts, 13 Seconds and 11 Thirds.

There were personal bests right across the team, with 55% of all swims resulting in a faster time.

Some of the standout improvements included:

* Vossie, who recorded the biggest improvement in a 200m event, taking an incredible 12.73 seconds off his 200m freestyle.
* Arlo, who achieved the biggest improvement in a 100m event—and the biggest overall time drop of the day for Portland—taking 17.11 seconds off his 100m freestyle.
* Rebecca, who recorded the biggest improvement in a 50m event, shaving 7.38 seconds off her 50m breaststroke.

A special welcome goes to our first-time and encouragement swimmers Alierah, Stephania, Declan and Elisa. We were delighted to have you represent Portland for the first time. You all swam brilliantly in your individual events and also stepped up to help complete our relay teams for the day.

Unfortunately, Leo and Maeve were unable to join us due to illness and injury. We wish you both a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing you back on pool deck soon.

The coaching team is incredibly proud of every swimmer—those who took on a new event, those who swam a stroke outside their comfort zone in the medley relays, those who achieved personal bests, and everyone who represented Portland with outstanding sportsmanship, encouragement and positivity throughout the day.

A huge thank you also goes to our parents and families for supporting our swimmers and volunteering as timekeepers. Your support makes days like these possible.

By Clarie Ward