HAQ - Hamilton Aquatics NZ

18/04/2026

RPC AUSSIE AGE GROUPS - Day VII last day🔥

Orlando – 17yrs 50m Fly
Backing up heats to finals and producing a strong performance with double Pb's 💪
➡️ Seed: 25.64
➡️ Prelims: 25.34
➡️ Through to the A Final
➡️ Final: 25.13
➡️ 7th overall
➡️ PB swim 💥

Arie putting together a strong week — continuing to front up and race, and finishing off a big campaign at this competition

200m Breaststroke
➡️ Seed: 2:41.71
➡️ Prelims: 2:49.28
➡️ 18th overall

100m Butterfly
➡️ Seed: 1:04.45
➡️ Prelims: 1:07.13
➡️ 26th overall

That wraps up a big campaign for our RPC athletes — now heading home for some well-earned rest before getting back into training for Opens.

Thank you whānau for your support well wishes and hype. Thanks Coach Mat, that is a long 2 weeks of back to back competition poolside race prep 👊🏽 .

See you poolside

17/04/2026

🔥RPC effort - 200 Free Thursdays Update 🔥

Great racing from our girls in the 200m Freestyle 💥

Indi Riley (17)
➡️ Seed: 2:10.84
➡️ Swam: 2:09.88
💪 Drops time and steps up under pressure — solid progress!

Holli Macdonald (18)
➡️ Seed: 2:07.35
➡️ Swam: 2:08.49
⚡ Took it on in a stacked field, sitting just outside the top 12 — strong effort and valuable racing experience.

Both girls, racing hard, and representing — that’s what it’s about.

17/04/2026

🔥 HAQ – AUSSIE AGE GROUPS 🔥

Fridays races 💥

Orlando Hardie
Seeded 51.67 → steps up in prelims 51.47 to punch into the A Final 👊
Comes back again and throws down 51.69 in finals.

That’s work.
Back-to-back racing, under pressure, against the best… and still delivering ⚡

Holli Macdonald
Seeded 27.32 → races tough for 27.62 in a stacked 18yr field.

You don’t get better without stepping up and taking it on. This is the grind. This is the standard. Keep racing!😤

Last day is today.
Let's go Team 🔥👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

16/04/2026

Congratulations to Paige Stringer for making the NZ Oceania team - to compete in Fiji next Month.
What a great achievement👏🏽

15/04/2026

🥉 BRONZE FOR ARIE!

ARIE competed superbly in 17yrs Girls 400 IM Final seeding third.

➡️ Qualified 3rd into the Final
➡️ Big drop from 5:05.98 ➡️ 4:59.88 and breaking the 5-minute barrier 🔥
➡️ 🥉 BRONZE MEDAL
Also edging closer toward the Waikato 17yrs record (4:56.38) 👀

13/04/2026

Orlando's 50 free heat saw him get a PB to then qualify for the 50 free final tonight.
Smash it Orlando🔥

Arie and Holli did well in their races-
Holli 18yr 100 free finishing just off her seed time, and is racing in the 18yr old B Final. Go Holli!!!
Arie in the 200 Fly finishing in the top 20

Can't get better than that👊🏽

12/04/2026

🔥 ARIE IS BACK! 🔥

After battling through injury, Ariella in RPC has made an incredible return to the blocks at the Aussie Age Group Champs 💪

Stepping up when it mattered most — seeded 5th for the final in the 17yrs Girls 200 IM Final… and finishing 5th, with another PB!!💥

A huge effort to not only be back racing, but to mix it with the best and deliver under pressure 👊

We’re proud of your resilience and grit, Arie — this is just the beginning

12/04/2026

🔥 NAGS 2026 – Day IV Wrap up and end of the Event 🔥

Another strong session in the pool for our HAQ crew with great depth across multiple events 💥

🥇Quinn lead the way with a GOLD in the 200m Freestyle Multi-Class – a dominant swim to take the win ⚡
💥 In the 200 Freestyle:
* Sophie – 5th
* Paige – 8th
* Jessica – 10th
* Gemma – 14th
💥 100 Breaststroke:
* Chian-Ying – 10th
* Shane – 10th
* Ari – 15th

💥 200 Butterfly:
* Isaac – 7th
* Poppy – 8th
* Mateo – 15th
Awesome racing across the board with plenty of top 10 finishes and strong performances right through the team.

We really appreciate the shout outs and support from home from the Parents who support us, Aly for being an incredible coach, and our team manager Jessie, to Swim NZ and the officials- this event can't happen without your love for the sport- Nga mihi.

Until next NAG's folks~ Ka kite

11/04/2026

🔥 HAQ RPC – AUSSIE AGE GROUP CHAMPS 🔥

In warm Pacific temperatures, we’ve got 4 RPC swimmers stepping up at the Australian Age Group Championships (11–18 April, Gold Coast) 🇦🇺🌊

There is no live stream available if you have a VPN you can watch live on Australia's Channel 9
The week's races include -

🏊‍♂️ Orlando
Day 2 – 100 Fly, 200 Free
Day 3 – 50 Free
Day 7 – 100 Free
Day 8 – 50 Fly

🏊‍♀️ Ari
Day 1 – 200 IM
Day 3 – 200 Fly
Day 5 – 400 IM
Day 8 – 100 Fly, 200 Breast

🏊‍♀️ Indy
Day 6 – 200 Free

🏊‍♀️ Holli
Day 2 – 400 Free
Day 3 – 100 Free
Day 6 – 200 Free
Day 7 – 50 Free

💥 Big week of racing ahead.

Smash it Team 👊🏽

10/04/2026

🔥 NAGS 2026 – DAY III WRAP 🔥

Another big night of finals racing for our team with some awesome results and serious progress across the board 💥

🥉 Jess – BRONZE in the 400 Free with a huge PB ⚡ what a swim to get on the podium!

💥 Poppy – 4th in the 400 Free, stepping up big time.

💥 Sophie – 6th in the 400 Free, also well under her morning swim.

💥 Paige - 4th missing the bronze by 1/100th of a second.

👏 Massive effort from these girls.

⚡ To close out the night, both our relay teams delivered big PB swims, showing the depth and energy right across the squad

💥 Strong performances, big improvements and plenty to build on heading into the final day

🌧️ Schedule Update: Due to weather conditions, Sunday racing has been brought forward — all remaining events will now be swum as timed finals on Saturday. Full details here: https://swimmingnz.org/so/78Prrfzu_

Give it up for our athletes last day whānau - 📣📣 Roll on Day IV💙

Kia ora everyone, Further to the update shared at the Team Managers Meeting this afternoon, and due to the current weather warnings, we regret to confirm that the two sessions scheduled for Sunday at the 2026 New Zealand Age Group Swimming Championships have been cancelled. The programme will be rev...

09/04/2026

💥 Hot on the heels of our Open athletes, we have 4 RPC athletes at the Aussie Age Group Championships on the Gold Coast from 11–18 April.💥

Best of luck to Indy, Orlando, Ariella, and Holli!

09/04/2026

🌊 NAGS 2026 – DAY ✌🏽

Another big night in Napier for our HAQ crew with standout performances, PBs and a NATIONAL RECORD

100 FREE FINALS
💥 Sophie – Huge drop from heats to storm home for 5th after committing to an aggressive race plan
💥 Jess –strong through the middle, finishing 6th in a tight field
🥇 Quinn – GOLD + PB + NZ RECORD absolutely dominant swim

200 BACK FINALS
💥 Gemma – Solid performance to place 10th
🥈 Paige – Massive swim going faster than her heat to take SILVER

50 BREASTSTROKE FINALS
💥 Chian-Ying – 10th in her first individual final – awesome experience and result
💥 Ari Narayan – Strong swim to finish 10th in finals

RELAYS
💥 Women’s Relay (Sophie, Paige, Quinn, Jess)
➡️ 8th place with a PB lead-off from Sophie and a 2-second team drop

💥 Men’s Relay (Shane, Ari, Isaac, Finn)
➡️ Big energy and a 5-second team drop – great RACING.

Special shoutout to Paige celebrating her birthday today🥳🎂

Roll on day III - 📣 LESSS GOOOOO