It was a brilliant club turnout for the Jamie Rigby Memorial Gala in Matlock on 6 June.
Following the warm-up, swimmers dangled legs round the edge of the pool and splashed like mad, whilst parents and officials clapped, in memory of Jamie Rigby, who died in a car crash in 2006.
THANK YOU to all of the swimmers and their parents, who made the long journey north on a sunny summer’s evening. The effort was well rewarded with a massive 17 PBs, 3 NTs and 4 superb wins.
The crowd was lively and the swimmers responded to this by producing high energy swims as shown by their wonderful achievements.
Taking a closer look, here’s how they did:
The relay swimmers kicked off the gala with a rallying start, with Portland swimmers competing in 7 of the first 10 races. A shortage of young boys on this occasion meant that most boys ‘swam up’ in their races, providing solid performances every time.
Overcoming tremendous nerves at her very first gala to compete in the relays, Grace swam very well indeed with a smashing breaststroke leg of the 10/u medley.
Mia performed fast and furious freestyle in 15/u relays.
Louis also proved himself to be a confirmed relay swimmer, putting in strong swims in all of his races as a 12 year old in 13/u and 15/u relays!
Angelina G swam a PB in her 11/u 50m breast and powered her relay team swims along as well as enjoying a good sprint swim in the Cannon.
Ben worked hard in both his 11/u 50m breast and 50m free and helping the team in the Cannon.
Chloe flew off the blocks in good time to swim powerfully close to her PB in the 15/u 50m back.
Michael was in top form as he swam PB performances and excellent third places in both the 15/u 50m back and breast, and swimming nearly a PB in the open 50m fly. Possibly this was a result of the (exciting?) boys poolside banter about which countries belong to which continents!
Finlay gave his absolute best on the night to swim 2 PBs in the 11/u 50m back and 10/u 25m breast and swam a NT in the 10/u 25m free. And in the Cannon he produced a formidable first leg sprint swim.
Olivia was quick off the blocks to swim herself a PB in the open 50m fly. She also helped to bring in the girls open relay team into well-earned FIRST and third places.
Bethan swam a wonderful PB in her 13/u 50m breast, achieving a solid 3rd place finish.
Ned, in addition to swimming in the relays, shone in his 13/u 50m breast to produce a PB performance.
After her stunning first leg swim in the first race of the gala, Ruby found it in herself to swim a PB in the 11/u 50m back.
Lucy T again PB’d in the girls 15/u 50m free in a close race and tight finish. She also swam powerfully well for her relay teams.
William, on the brink of a birthday, left his age category behind to swim up and in doing so swam a PB in the 15/u 50m free.
Alice was undoubtedly in show stopping form as she smashed her PB in the 10/u 25m fly for a fantastic third place and won the 10/u 25m free in her first attempt at this distance.
Emma swam well in the girls open 50m breast in between powerful relay swims, as part of the girls open team.
Connor achieved yet another PB in the boys open 50m breast before swimming the open 50m free and open 50m back and bringing the team home in the Cannon.
Tilly worked hard in her relay events and in the 13/u 50m back.
Austin swam hard (PB in the 13/u 50m back) and swam up (15/u relays) – well done!
Chelsea, after her tough relay swims, narrowly missed her PB in the 11/u 50m free.
Angelina D, also swam the relays hard before narrowly missing out on a PB in the 15/u 50m fly.
Stan, shooting off the blocks in his customary good dive, put in solid swims in the relays, swam up in the 15/u 50m fly, and then sprint swam the Cannon with the rest.
Anna also warming up with relay swims, then PB’d in the 11/u 26m fly (by 4s!) and sprint swam in the Cannon.
Gabriel, loving the fly as his sister does, swam a 5s(!) PB in the 11/u 25m fly.
Rebecca, in good form, was the third swimmer in the awesome girls open relay team, after which she achieved fourth in the girls open 50m free and third in the girls open 50m back.
The Poon girls partnered up in the 13/u relays and then each swam well in their 50m race: Maddie the fly and Gen the free.
Esther, the last of the four epic open girls relay team, later went on to win her 15/u 50m breast in fine style firing off the blocks, smoothly turning at 25m and taking no prisoners right up to the finish!
And Mai! What a fabulous swim at the late stages of the event, winning the 10/u 25m back, wanting to make her mum, who couldn’t make it to the event, proud. And just look what fire in the belly can do!
Finally, Lucy W put in two good relay swims to warm up for a PB in the 10/u 25m breast before kicking off the Cannon in good style and – considering 160 swimmers lined up for the 20 x 25m relay – with a great deal of courage!
What a wonderful job swimmers! Portland continues to make swimming fun and help each swimmer achieve their very best. Thank you to all who have helped to make this gala a great success.
Go to Swimmers’ Corner Gala News for full results.
