While the trophies and medals flooded in at the Falcon meet, 5 Portland swimmers crossed the county barrier a few miles up the road for a couple of gentle swims in the Long Eaton Distance Meet at Queens Leisure Centre in Derby. Just 1 or 2 swims each, that’s hardly a big ask, surely? Not if you like your wake up call to be a 400m IM or 400m free!
Luckily (say Olivia, Jaime, Jade, Mikey and Ryan) these events are not too frequent on the swimming calendar so it was a day for PB’s – and big time. Seconds were not just shaved off, not even chopped off but hacked off in huge chunks but, more importantly, some gremlins were laid to rest and the smiles just kept getting wider.
Well done to the boys for some great county qualifying times, with the girls edging ever closer. Well done Jaime and Olivia for overcoming your nerves and proving that you absolutely can do it! (Bad luck Mikey and Jade for the DQs in the 400IM – after all that hard work – but you and we know you did it).
A small contingency but they did themselves and our club proud, especially Ryan who stood out from the crowd fabulously in his Portland colours all morning.
