A COACH has urged his swimmers to savour the experience of competing alongside their friends against the best of the rest from across the county.

Northwich Centurions will be represented by 19 youngsters over three weekends of racing at the Cheshire County and Age Group Championships which start on Saturday morning.

“We want to see athletes reach the objectives they set themselves,” said head coach Simon Pickering, who leads a team at the annual event for the first time following his appointment last year.

“However we’ll also encourage them to enjoy their time at poolside as well as in the water.”

Northwich have shown improvement on each of their past two visits to Macclesfield for the county championships and collected twice as many medals in 2018 as they had 12 months earlier.

One of them was gold.

They also had three swimmers classify inside the leading eight overall for their age-group, while four others made the top 10.

A team points total was close to twice the size it had been in 2017 as a result.

READ > Centurions show improvement on county stage

Pickering said: “For those members at our club that train to compete, this gala is a key benchmark as it attracts the very best swimmers from across the county.

“To make the grade, they have already set a standard that isn’t in reach for everybody.

“A successful championship this time around will depend on individuals; it could be making their debut at this level, swimming a personal-best time, finishing higher than their seeding or reaching a final.”

“This Centurions team has the full range.”

There were encouraging signs from Northwich swimmers towards the end of 2018.

They finished as runners-up in their section following the final round of the National Arena League’s North West Division Two.

READ > How Centurions found inspiration for success

Meanwhile on the previous weekend they had collected the most points of visiting teams at the annual Percy Mason Memorial Meet in Warrington.

Preparations have continued apace since.

Pickering added: “There’s always a buzz ahead of the county championships and it’s an exciting time for both the athletes and their coaches.

“Our training cycle has to reflect that the gala takes place over three weeks and so swimmers will be maintaining high workloads in terms of intensity and volume so that they’re constantly primed to race.”

“Swimming is a sport in which fractions of a second really matter and so we encourage a mind-set that pays attention to detail because those little things could make all the difference.”