GOLD COAST, Australia, February 28. ENGLAND’S swimmers have arrived at their holding camp on the Gold Coast in Australia where they will spend the next two weeks finalizing preparations for next month's Commonwealth Games. Within hours of touching down in Brisbane on Monday morning the team was in the water at its training base – The Southport School – as it sought to rid itself of a journey that took well over 24 hours.
England's swimming contingent will train at the private school until they depart for Melbourne, home to the 2006 Commonwealth Games, on March 12. The Games themselves start on March 15. While at Southport the swimmers will be able to use the school's 12-lane, 50-meter, outdoor pool. Southport is used by British Swimming as an offshore center for developing promising male athletes as well as hosting warm-weather training camps.