At this third and final gala of the J C Dobb’s Spring Competition, marking the end of the swimming season, the team with the most points would receive a trophy and all teams would hopefully go home in a ‘happy holidays’ mood.
At the start of the night, it seemed like we had a mountain to swim up: for some, the school holidays had already started and the popularity of Splendour, Nottingham’s largest outdoor music festival, meant a third of the team would be swimming 4 races, the rest 5 or more.
Orla Beavan, Beatrice Munro, Freya Teweleit and Fran Roberts ignited excitement at the outset in the girls’ 10 & under freestyle relay, followed by the boys’ 2nd place performance of Stan Toplass, Luke Hastings, Ethan Pywell and Raj Malhi.
Over half the individual races swum during the evening were PB-beaters:
- Mikey Pawluk – 50m backstroke & 50m freestyle
- Edward Roberts – 50m breaststroke (with long-awaited delight!)
- Ethan Pywell – 25m backstroke & 25m freestyle
- Rebecca Horne – 50m breaststroke
- Michael Tones – 50m breaststroke & 50m butterfly
- Archie Symes – 50m butterfly (another second off the time he’d slashed by 6½ seconds the previous weekend in the Chesterfield Open)
- Andrew De Boer – 50m freestyle
- Lucy Toplass – 50m backstroke & 50m freestyle
- Orla Beavan – 25m breaststroke & 25m butterfly
- Hannah Mackay – 50m freestyle
- Emma Horne – 50m butterfly (County Time too!)
- Stan Toplass – 25m butterfly
Other special mentions for:
- Luke Hastings with four fantastic first swims for the Club.
- Freya Teweleit’s great New Time in 25m backstroke at her first gala.
- Fran Roberts’ sense of clarity amidst adult confusion over the medley!
- Phoebe Mackay and Raj Malhi for feisty performances as part of the 8 & 9 year olds’ relay team.
- Andrew De Boer’s determination to carry on with a suspected hamstring pull and, in his very next race, take his 50m freestyle time below 28 seconds, tting a Speeding Ticket for his efforts!
- Beatrice Munro’s superfast 25m freestyle, calling for a Speeding Ticket at her very first gala – that’s quite an achievement!
- Molly Campbell and Samuel Mackay for solid, competitive, point-winning swims.
- Kathy Pawluk for stepping in last-minute with a fantastic swim, as part of the 14 years and under team that won the freestyle relay.
- Individual first places and maximum points for the team by Archie (back), Hannah (free), Emma (fly) and Andrew (fly).
A massive well done to everyone! We came 4th on the night, 4th overall in the Spring Competition and finished the season with a smile.
‘Thank you’ to the helpers, frazzled, but still in good spirits at the end. ‘Thank you’ to all the swimmers for making it fun and, above all, doing it for the team. You were splendiferous!
