AS the annual National Schools’ Swimming, Cycling, Track and Field Championships got off to a start yesterday, North Georgetown, District 11, armed with its usual arsenal of national swimmers, collected the first win of the competition, when the swimming division of the competition came to a close at Castellani Swimming Pool. Backed by the authority of Olympian Britany van Lange, along with Accalia Khan, Dylan Nurse, and Hannibal Gaskin, the District 11 team effortlessly amassed 313 points to once again finish ahead of their arch rivals, District 10, Upper Demerara Kwakwani, which finished with 205 points.
One hundred and seventy-four points put District 7, Cuyuni Mazuruni, in the third place position, while District 1, North West, with 127 points, and District 9, Rupununi, with 95 points rounded out the top five positions.
Competing in the open category, van Lange led the way for District 11 with her wins in the 50m backstroke and 100m freestyle. Van Lange was also scheduled to compete in the 100m backstroke but was unable due to the cutting short of yesterday’s events, a decision that did not go down well with all of the district teams.
The official points were tallied after the completion of 44 of the 50 events scheduled for yesterday’s competition, which marked the opening day of competition in the prominent event.
The remaining six events, those of the 100m backstroke category, were cancelled after it was largely agreed to close off the days event without them going off, which left some district feeling it unfair to those swimmers who were to participate in the events.
As competition played out into the late afternoon and only a few minutes of daylight remaining, eleven of the 16 competing districts voted to discard the rest of the day’s activities, a decision which was upheld by the presiding officials.
However parents, swimmers and district officials, including those of District 11, felt slighted and voiced their contention against the decision.

(By Tamica Garnett)