Ireland to host Celtic Tri-Nations Swimming Championships

Swim Ireland will this week host the Celtic Tri Nation's Swimming Championships as Ireland, Scotland and Wales all compete vying for the Championship title at the National Aquatic Centre, Dublin. Ireland, Scotland and Wales will have some of their top athletes on show over the 3 days as the three nations go head to head from Friday to Sunday.

This Irish Team boasts former Olympian and London 2012 hopeful Melanie Nocher, 2011 European Junior and Youth Commonwealth gold medallist Sycerika McMahon, along with multiple Irish Junior and Senior record
Holder's including Karl Burdis, Bethany Carson, Jane Roberts and Shani Stallard.

Hannah Miley, reigning European and Commonwealth 400IM champion, who represented Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics competes for Scotland. While for Wales, Tom Haffield, Sarah Lougher. Danielle Stirrat and Ayls Thomas have all represented GB at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Speaking ahead of the event Swim Ireland Performance Director Peter Banks said "This is a great opportunity for Irish swimmers to compete against World class swimmers in our home pool, ahead of the 2012 games in London. We have a great facility in the NAC, Scotland and Wales will bring a challenging level of competition to the weekend and we are excited to see some great racing."

The meet is also a FINA verified meet for Olympic qualification.

In Cancun, Mexico, Open Water swimmer and Olympic hopeful Chris Bryan swam in the FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup yesterday finishing 29th, Bryan swims in the FINA 15K Open Water Swimming Grand Prix tomorrow Thursday. There is just one Olympic qualifier for Open Water swimmers, taking place in June.

Ireland Team: Bethany Carson, Jane Roberts, Melanie Nocher, Niamh Murphy, Nuala Murphy, Sarah Kelly, Shani Stallard, Sycerika McMahon, Andrew Meegan, Curtis Coulter, Karl Burdis, David O'Sullivan, Nicholas Quinn, Philip Duffy, Seamus Stacey.

Issued by Swim Ireland, whose High Performance Programme is supported and funded by the Irish Sports Council