Around the region:

Col, 20, is now preparing for the selection trials in Brisbane from June 10 to 15 where the Paris Paralympic squad will be chosen.

Col, now based in Melbourne, where he does his training, has been swimming 50km to 60km a week.

The Paralympics start at the end of August.

Region included in cup tour

The annual Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour has grown in scope year-on-year since its inaugural run in 2003 and the next edition will be no different.

The trophy will make stops on the 2024 tour that include five different countries beyond Australia’s bounds — and the Goulburn Valley and Campaspe regions have found their way onto the itinerary.

Stops in this region are not unheard of for the trophy, comprising 18-carat gold and carrying an estimated worth of $750,000.

This time around, members of the public can get up close with the cup across Friday, October 4, and Saturday, October 5, in the Goulburn Valley’s north-western reaches.

Rochester is the destination on the first day of the cup’s local exposure before it moves across to Nathalia on the second day.

Teen appeals sentence

A teen who was sentenced to two years in a youth detention centre for a crash that killed a Shepparton man last year has appealed the length of his sentence.

The 19 year-old Kyabram man took his case to the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court which was sitting at Shepparton on Wednesday.

His senior counsel Susanna Locke argued the sentence her client received in the County Court in December last year was “manifestly excessive”.

The teen pleaded guilty and was sentenced for dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing serious injury for a crash at Lancaster in January.

Representing the Crown, Elizabeth Ruddle argued against lessening the two-year sentence which she said was “only one year more” than a mandatory minimum 12-month sentence.

The three justices sitting in the Court of Appeal are expected to deliver their decision today.