The Champion of Champions 29th April, 2008

The Champion of Champions is one of the most prestigious trophies that is awarded at the Presentation Evening. However the Champion of Champions is the only point score for which there are no specific races held during the year. Instead, the point score is a cumulation of the various competitions run during the summer season in an attempt to find and recognise the club's top swimmer for the year.

The Champion of Champions trophy was first presented in 1995/1996 after the club's committee decided to create an award to recognise the club's top swimmer each season. Loosely described as the "Swimmer of the Year", the recipients performances in all the club's Saturday morning competitions are taken into account, but also included are their results while representing the club at the various Area, Metropolitan, State and National Championships held throughout the summer season.
The point score is designed to encourage swimmers to swim at a competitive level within the Club and at a Representative level.

All members who compete in the Club Age Championships in the summer season are automatically included in the point score but how it is calculated is a little more complicated. So how is the point score calculated and what do you have to do to win the competition?

Firstly, all the points that swimmers receive in the standard Saturday morning competition, the Graded Races point score, are added to each swimmer's Champion of Champions point score. So if you have done well in this competition, you are already off to a good start.

Next, points from the Club's Age and Open Championships are included in the point score, however this is where it gets a bit more complex.
To recognise and rate the achievements of swimmers in their championship races, a formula is applied to each event's results. As some swimmers might have 3 or 4 swimmers in their age group and another swimmer might have only 1, swimmers who beat more swimmers in a championship race get more points in the Champion of Champions point score.
So, for example, in the Championship point score, all swimmers get 4 points for winning a championship race, but when the formula is applied, a swimmer who came first, but has only had to beat 1 other swimmer to win that race, will get 8 points while a swimmer in another age group who also won their race, but had to beat 3 other swimmers to win, will get 16 points.
The same process is applied to both the Club Age and Open Championships.
Points are also awarded for each Championship record broken by a swimmer.

Lastly performances at swimming meets over the summer are taken into account. Swimmers are awarded points for their results at the Merrylands SwimFest, Speedo Sprint Series Heats & Finals, Cumberland Championships, Cumberland Sprint Meet, Cumberland 5-8yrs Meet, Metropolitan, State and National Championships. The more events you swim, the more points you get.

The final point score is usually fairly close but none closer than last year's result where first and second were separated by only 15 points. The big question is, who will win this year?

The exact details of the Champion of Champions pointscore, including points awarded for various events are listed in the Race By-Laws.

Did you know?
  • In the last 12 seasons, only 5 different swimmers have won the competition with most of them having won it on multiple occasions.


  • 3 swimmers have won the competition more than once. Giuliano Soto, Robert Griffey and Brittany Johnson.


  • Robert Griffey and Brittany Johnson have won the competition the most times, winning it on 4 occasions each.


  • Matthew Buckler and Peter Johnston are the only swimmers to have won both the Graded Races Point Score and the Champion of Champions point score.


  • Brittany Johnson is the only female to have won the point score.


  • The club used to run a Swim-A-Thon as a fundraising activity each season. Each swimmer who participated in the Swim-A-Thon was awarded 25 Champion of Champions points.


  • The current Champion of Champions Trophy was donated by the Johnston Family.


Past Winners
1995/96 Matthew Buckler
1996/97 Giuliano Soto
1997/98 Giuliano Soto
1998/99 Peter Johnston
1999/2000 Robert Griffey
2000/01 Robert Griffey
2001/02 Robert Griffey
2002/03 Robert Griffey
2003/04 Brittany Johnson
2004/05 Brittany Johnson
2005/06 Brittany Johnson
2006/07 Brittany Johnson


See Also
  • Champion of Champions

  • Race By-Laws
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