Thank you SO much to those swimmers who travelled way up north to Worksop Leisure Centre for the first Sports Centre gala of the year.
Stricken by illness, injury and unavailability, the Portland team this Saturday night was stretched and our swimmers had to swim up, swim more and swim hard!
Here’s how they did:
William was first off the blocks for Portland in Event 1, the 15/U Individual Medley, smashing his previous best time by 8 seconds – way to start a gala!
Dahlia followed up with 2nd place in the girls 15/U IM, then went on to take 1st in 50m butterfly.
Esther swam up in the Open category in the 100m butterfly, then accomplished an impressive 3rd just 5 events later in 100m breaststroke.
Dylan achieved 2 PBs in 50m backstroke and 50m breaststroke (by 4 seconds) after running in the Notts Schools Cross Country Championships earlier in the day – in Worksop!
Alice, still only 9 years old, competed in 11/U 50m freestyle against girls who were nearly 12 and produced more fabulous front crawl in subsequent relays.
Fran swam up age groups in both individual events and recorded 2 new 100m times in breaststroke and freestyle.
Angelina G got a 4 second PB in 50m backstroke and in the 50m butterfly, an event she was dreading, set a fantastic new time.
Andrew, who can be counted on for strong swims every time, brought home valuable team points in his individuals and finished 3rd in 100m breaststroke.
Angelina D, consistently swimming close to PB times, won 3rd place in 50m butterfly and 100m IM.
Hannah put in a fine performance, swimming up in the Open 100m freestyle.
Rebecca touched first in 100m backstroke, at a deceptively leisurely pace, and 3rd in 100m freestyle.
Madeleine gave everything in 100m backstroke – the legs had it and demanded a rest afterwards!
Phoebe’s stroke of the night was breaststroke, in the 50m individual (when her goggles morphed into a necklace!), then the breaststroke leg of the medley relay.
Emma flew the fly leg in the medley relay and adopted the customary head-down, no-breath strategy in the Cannon.
Stanley, dived in, got out, dived in again, as many times as was asked of him … which was quite a lot! It was truly exhausting to watch.
Edward also swam a multitude of swims, attained a 3rd place and PB in 100m breaststroke; raced 100m backstroke twice, first in his own age group, then again just 6 events later in the Open!
Gabriel set a PB in 50m freestyle and proved himself as the loudest, proudest supporter, though we think big sis would like him to save his voice a little to ensure he can cheer on everyone else.
Superhuman of the night must be Sam … To avoid an empty lane, only 5 events into the competition, and to gain 1 point for the team, Sam’s name was put forward for the Boys Open 100m butterfly. Swim up 2 age groups against giants of men and jeopardize the rest of his races? Surely not. Challenge accepted, 2 other teams entered no swimmer and Sam secured the team the hardest won 3 points ever! Far from ruining the remainder of his evening, he succeeded at both winning and setting PBs in 100m breaststroke and 100m freestyle, the latter by over 15 seconds! What a feat!
`Thank you!’ to all our marvellous swimmers for taking on distances that were new and strokes that are loathed and for always giving your all.
Our very small team swam heroically and finished 5th – amazing, considering we could not take part in the 9/U relays and had to swim for No Points in the Cannon Relay – not so much a cannon, rather a boomerang relay, since so many swimmers were required to swim a length then charge back to do another!
Thanks to the parents who support the Club by transporting the swimmers (it was quite a drive for this one!) and the parent helpers who step up to make sure it all runs smoothly.
Log into Swimmers’ Corner and go to Gala News for the full results.
