About 50 former swimmers, divers and water polo players will attend the celebrations for a club which has had 19 New Zealand representatives through its ranks over the years.
Zenith was originally formed in 1932 and functioned until 1949 when it went into voluntary recess.
The club had started out in the basement of the YMCA in Moray Pl — a basement which was unheated and poorly ventilated with a small 25-yard (22.8m) pool.
In 1944, members approached the YMCA about upgrading the facility but within a few years the pool boiler gave up and the club decided to go into recess until new facilities came along.
Moana Pool was opened in 1964, and the Zenith club came out of recess in August, 1966.
By the next year, the club had more than 350 members and was well established, the members swimming at the Andersons Bay pool and then at Moana Pool once a week.
Club patron Doreen Ansell said going through the history had showed the club had done well in producing New Zealand representatives and competent swimmers throughout Dunedin.
The club was still producing top-line swimmers with the likes of youngster Tame Govaerts-Paul and ocean swimmer Stefannie Gillespie.
Zenith was the club at which Olympic gold medallist Danyon Loader started his swimming.
His mother, Daphne, is a life member.
A check of the records showed how dominant Loader was when he was rising up the ranks.
In 1991, the year before he won the silver medal at the Barcelona Olympics, he won 66 gold, 13 silver and six bronze medals at various meets around the country.
That year he also set 51 meet records.
Marathon swimmer Philip Rush, who lives in Wellington, and former New Zealand water polo representative and national coach Iain Ansell will be attending the celebrations.
Some of the original members of the club — members before it went into recess in 1949 — would be there and would cut the jubilee cake.
The club has marked the milestone with a new trophy. It was donated by Kathleen Turner, who is the daughter of Frank Binnie, one of the instigators of the club when it got off the ground in 1932.
The trophy, called the Zenith 50th jubilee trophy, will be awarded to the club member who achieves the most nationally and internationally in swimming.
It will be presented during the weekend celebrations.
The weekend will start tonight with a get-together at Otago Golf Club, followed by a swimming carnival at Moana Pool tomorrow and a function at the Savoy tomorrow night.
