Alexandra Swimming Club’s (ASC) Caleb Ludlow has been selected to represent New Zealand in the tri series event against Australia in Hamilton on October 4-6. 

The tri series is an event designed to introduce young New Zealand swimmers to the demands of performance racing in an international environment.

For the second consecutive year, the tri series will see two New Zealand teams swimming against two Australian states; Victoria and Western Australia. 

Caleb said it was neat to get the opportunity and was a great stepping stone for his future plans.

“I hope to gain a lot of skills and new practice techniques from the training camp at the beginning of the series, from both the coaches and other swimmers. 

“It will be great to train and compete in a big group of similar age and speed swimmers.”

Caleb is heading to the United States next year, where he plans to continue with his swimming while getting his university degree.

“It will be awesome to train and compete in a college team with the benefits of on-campus facilities at the same time as working towards my career goals.”

Caleb Ludlow has achieved another milestone in his swimming career. PHOTO: Supplied

Caleb’s mum Shelley said she was excited when she received the email from Swimming New Zealand.

“I cheered out ‘Caleb you need to see this, you’re in’!

“[Swimming competitively] is a lot of time and effort, along with his school work where he is just as self-driven, but he really just loves it. I'm a very proud mum, it's great being there for your kids as they become awesome young adults.”

[He] gets so much out of his swimming, from the fun of club training with long-time swim friends and having Ashleigh Rankin coaching with her great combo of enjoyable and challenging sessions, to the racing that gives him such a boost of adrenaline and satisfaction.”

Swimming New Zealand's Olympic programme lead Gary Francis said tri series is an important step in athlete development.

"Congratulations to the selected athletes for the New Zealand teams. The tri series format has been developed as a great opportunity for athletes to develop and race for their team against Australian states. For many of our athletes, it will be their first experience of international racing, and will be an important step in their development."

The tri series format is five days long - the first two days are pre-event training days where swimmers will have the opportunity to be coached by coaches from other teams, get to know other swimmers, and work on racing skills.

During the competitive meet coaches will post their team selections just hours before racing so swimmers have to learn resilience and flexibility, as well as knowing they are racing for their team. 

There is little rest time between matches and swimmers learn the importance of recovery processes, good warm-up and swim down and how important correct nutrition is before, during and after competition. 

Before the tri series, Caleb is training in the pool and the gym gearing up for the Otago Championships, Auckland Championships and the New Zealand Short Course Championships also held in Auckland.

The Dunstan High School student, who specialises in breaststroke, scooped three gold medals in the South Island Long Course Championships in March for 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke. 

Together with fellow swimmer Liam Rees, Caleb represented ASC at the New Zealand Championships in Auckland and the NZ National Age Group Championships (known as NAGS) in the Hawke’s Bay in April.

Read more: Alexandra swimmers perform in Hawke’s Bay

For more about ASC see their club listing.